Controlling deposition and characterising dynamics of thin liquid films with high temporal and spatial resolution

The high inertia of classical fluid coating processes severely limits the possibility of controlling the deposited film thickness through the entrainment velocity. We describe and characterize a new experimental device where the inertia is dramatically reduced, allowing for millimeter-scale patterning with micrometer-accurate thickness. Measuring precise film profiles over large spatial extents with high temporal resolution poses a challenge, which we overcome using a custom interferometric set-up coupled with state-of-the-art signal processing. The sensitivity of our method allows us to resolve film thinning rates in the nanometer-per-second range, and to quantify the relative contribution of surface-tension and gravity driven flows. We apply this method by showing that the thickness of the deposited film obeys the classical Landau-Levich scaling even when the meniscus faces important acceleration.