Wave-Driven Assembly of Quasiperiodic Patterns of Particles

We theoretically show that a superposition of plane waves causes small (compared to the wavelength) particles dispersed in a fluid to assemble in quasiperiodic two or three-dimensional patterns. We experimentally demonstrate this theory by using ultrasound waves to assemble quasiperiodic patterns of...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inPhysical review letters Vol. 126; no. 14; p. 145501
Main Authors Cherkaev, Elena, Guevara Vasquez, Fernando, Mauck, China, Prisbrey, Milo, Raeymaekers, Bart
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States 09.04.2021
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Summary:We theoretically show that a superposition of plane waves causes small (compared to the wavelength) particles dispersed in a fluid to assemble in quasiperiodic two or three-dimensional patterns. We experimentally demonstrate this theory by using ultrasound waves to assemble quasiperiodic patterns of carbon nanoparticles in water using an octagonal arrangement of ultrasound transducers, and we document good agreement between theory and experiments. The theory also applies to obtaining quasiperiodic patterns in other situations where particles move with linear waves, such as optical lattices.
ISSN:1079-7114
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevLett.126.145501