26 research outputs found
Lasing from single, stationary, dye-doped glycerol/water microdroplets located on a superhydrophobic surface
We report laser emission from single, stationary, Rhodamine B-doped
glycerol/water microdroplets located on a superhydrophobic surface. In the
experiments, a pulsed, frequency-doubled Nd:YAG laser operating at 532 nm was
used as the excitation source. The microdroplets ranged in diameter from a few
to 20 um. Lasing was achieved in the red-shifted portion of the dye emission
spectrum with threshold fluences as low as 750 J/cm2. Photobleaching was
observed when the microdroplets were pumped above threshold. In certain cases,
multimode lasing was also observed and attributed to the simultaneous lasing of
two modes belonging to different sets of whispering gallery modes.Comment: to appear in Optics Communication
Surface Roughness and Effective Stick-Slip Motion
The effect of random surface roughness on hydrodynamics of viscous
incompressible liquid is discussed. Roughness-driven contributions to
hydrodynamic flows, energy dissipation, and friction force are calculated in a
wide range of parameters. When the hydrodynamic decay length (the viscous wave
penetration depth) is larger than the size of random surface inhomogeneities,
it is possible to replace a random rough surface by effective stick-slip
boundary conditions on a flat surface with two constants: the stick-slip length
and the renormalization of viscosity near the boundary. The stick-slip length
and the renormalization coefficient are expressed explicitly via the
correlation function of random surface inhomogeneities. The effective
stick-slip length is always negative signifying the effective slow-down of the
hydrodynamic flows by the rough surface (stick rather than slip motion). A
simple hydrodynamic model is presented as an illustration of these general
hydrodynamic results. The effective boundary parameters are analyzed
numerically for Gaussian, power-law and exponentially decaying correlators with
various indices. The maximum on the frequency dependence of the dissipation
allows one to extract the correlation radius (characteristic size) of the
surface inhomogeneities directly from, for example, experiments with torsional
quartz oscillators.Comment: RevTeX4, 14 pages, 3 figure
Modeling relaxation and jamming in granular media
We introduce a stochastic microscopic model to investigate the jamming and
reorganization of grains induced by an object moving through a granular medium.
The model reproduces the experimentally observed periodic sawtooth fluctuations
in the jamming force and predicts the period and the power spectrum in terms of
the controllable physical parameters. It also predicts that the avalanche
sizes, defined as the number of displaced grains during a single advance of the
object, follow a power-law, , where the exponent is
independent of the physical parameters
Yield conditions for deformation of amorphous polymer glasses
Shear yielding of glassy polymers is usually described in terms of the
pressure-dependent Tresca or von Mises yield criteria. We test these criteria
against molecular dynamics simulations of deformation in amorphous polymer
glasses under triaxial loading conditions that are difficult to realize in
experiments. Difficulties and ambiguities in extending several standard
definitions of the yield point to triaxial loads are described. Two
definitions, the maximum and offset octahedral stresses, are then used to
evaluate the yield stress for a wide range of model parameters. In all cases,
the onset of shear is consistent with the pressure-modified von Mises
criterion, and the pressure coefficient is nearly independent of many
parameters. Under triaxial tensile loading, the mode of failure changes to
cavitation.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures, revte
Boundary Lubrication: Squeeze-out Dynamics of a Compressible 2D Liquid
The expulsion dynamics of the last liquid monolayer of molecules confined
between two surfaces has been analyzed by solving the two-dimensional (2D)
Navier-Stokes equation for a compressible liquid. We find that the squeeze-out
is characterized by the parameter g0 ~ P0/(rho c^2), where P0 is the average
perpendicular (squeezing) pressure, rho the liquid (3D) density and c the
longitudinal sound velocity in the monolayer film. When g0 << 1 the result of
the earlier incompressible treatment is recovered. Numerical results for the
squeeze-out time, and for the time-dependence of the radius of the squeezed-out
region, indicate that compressibility effects may be non-negligible both in
time and in space. In space, they dominate at the edge of the squeeze-out
region. In time, they are strongest right at the onset of the squeeze-out
process, and just before its completion.Comment: revtex4, 6 pages, 4 figures. Published on PRB on December 31, 200
Thin-Film Metamaterials called Sculptured Thin Films
Morphology and performance are conjointed attributes of metamaterials, of
which sculptured thin films (STFs) are examples. STFs are assemblies of
nanowires that can be fabricated from many different materials, typically via
physical vapor deposition onto rotating substrates. The curvilinear--nanowire
morphology of STFs is determined by the substrate motions during fabrication.
The optical properties, especially, can be tailored by varying the morphology
of STFs. In many cases prototype devices have been fabricated for various
optical, thermal, chemical, and biological applications.Comment: to be published in Proc. ICTP School on Metamaterials (Augsut 2009,
Sibiu, Romania
Simulations of the Static Friction Due to Adsorbed Molecules
The static friction between crystalline surfaces separated by a molecularly
thin layer of adsorbed molecules is calculated using molecular dynamics
simulations. These molecules naturally lead to a finite static friction that is
consistent with macroscopic friction laws. Crystalline alignment, sliding
direction, and the number of adsorbed molecules are not controlled in most
experiments and are shown to have little effect on the friction. Temperature,
molecular geometry and interaction potentials can have larger effects on
friction. The observed trends in friction can be understood in terms of a
simple hard sphere model.Comment: 13 pages, 13 figure