Tunable Brownian Vortex at the Interface
Soft Condensed Matter
2011-05-09 v1 Statistical Mechanics
Abstract
A general kind of Brownian vortexes are demonstrated by applying an external nonconservative force field to a colloidal particle bound by a conservative optical trapping force at a liquid-air interface. As the liquid medium is translated at a constant velocity with the bead trapped at the interface, the drag force near the surface provide enough rotational component to bias the particle's thermal fluctuations in a circulatory motion. The interplay between the thermal fluctuations and the advection of the bead in constituting the vortex motions is studied, inferring that the angular velocity of the circulatory motion offers a comparative measure of the interface fluctuations.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1103.2529,
title = {Tunable Brownian Vortex at the Interface},
author = {Manas Khan and A. K. Sood},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1103.2529},
year = {2011}
}
Comments
Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. E