Non-specular reflection of walking droplets

Since their discovery by Yves Couder and Emmanuel Fort, droplets walking on a vibrating liquid bath have attracted considerable attention because they unexpectedly exhibit certain features reminiscent of quantum particles. While the behaviour of walking droplets in unbounded geometries has to a larg...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of fluid mechanics Vol. 804
Main Authors Pucci, Giuseppe, Sáenz, Pedro J., Faria, Luiz M., Bush, John W. M.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Cambridge, UK Cambridge University Press 10.10.2016
Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Subjects
Angle of incidence
Angle of reflection
Behavior
Boundaries
Computer simulation
Condensed Matter
Droplets
Experiments
Fluid mechanics
Fluids
Incidence angle
Mechanics
Momentum
Physics
Rapids
Reflection
Soft Condensed Matter
Specular reflection
Walking
Faraday waves
capillary waves
drops
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:Since their discovery by Yves Couder and Emmanuel Fort, droplets walking on a vibrating liquid bath have attracted considerable attention because they unexpectedly exhibit certain features reminiscent of quantum particles. While the behaviour of walking droplets in unbounded geometries has to a large extent been rationalized theoretically, no such rationale exists for their behaviour in the presence of boundaries, as arises in a number of key quantum analogue systems. We here present the results of a combined experimental and theoretical study of the interaction of walking droplets with a submerged planar barrier. Droplets exhibit non-specular reflection, with a small range of reflection angles that is only weakly dependent on the system parameters, including the angle of incidence. The observed behaviour is captured by simulations based on a theoretical model that treats the boundaries as regions of reduced wave speed, and rationalized in terms of momentum considerations.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 23
ISSN:0022-1120
1469-7645
DOI:10.1017/jfm.2016.537