We use the boundary element method (BEM) and the Cox–Voinov law to study the motion of droplets on a substrate with a moving wettability profile. Under the right conditions, droplets surf.
Photoresponsive surfactants provide a unique microfluidic driving mechanism. Since they switch between two molecular shapes under illumination and thereby affect surface tension of fluid interfaces, Marangoni flow along the interface occurs. To describe the dynamics of the surfactant mixture at a planar interface, we formulate diffusion-advection-reaction equations for both surfactant densities. They also include adsorption from and desorption into the neighboring fluids and photoisomerization by light. We then study how the interface responds when illuminated by spots of light. Switching on a single light spot, the density of the switched surfactant spreads in time and assumes an exponentially decaying profile in steady state. Simultaneously, the induced radial Marangoni flow reverses its flow direction from inward to outward. We use this feature to set up specific feedback rules, which couple the advection velocities sensed at the light spots to their intensities. As a result two neighboring spots switch on and off alternately. Extending the feedback rule to light spots arranged on the vertices of regular polygons, we observe periodic switching patterns for even-sided polygons, where two sets of next-nearest neighbors alternate with each other. A triangle and pentagon also show regular oscillations, while heptagon and nonagon exhibit irregular oscillations due to frustration. While our findings are specific to the chosen set of parameters, they show how complex patterns at photoresponsive fluid interfaces emerge from simple feedback coupling.
In recent decades novel solid substrates have been designed which change their wettability in response to light or an electrostatic field. Here, we investigate a droplet on substrates with oscillating...
We present a linear model, which mimics the response of a spatially extended dissipative medium to a distant perturbation, and investigate its dynamics under delayed feedback control. The time a perturbation needs to propagate to a measurement point is captured by an inherent delay time (or latency). A detailed linear stability analysis demonstrates that a nonzero system delay acts to destabilize the otherwise stable fixed point for sufficiently large feedback strengths. The imaginary part of the dominant eigenvalue is bounded by twice the feedback strength. In the relevant parameter space it changes discontinuously along specific lines when switching between eigenvalues. When the feedback control force is bounded by a sigmoid function, a supercritical Hopf bifurcation occurs at the stability-instability transition. Perturbing the fixed point, the frequency and amplitude of the resulting limit cycles respond to parameter changes like the dominant eigenvalue. In particular, they show similar discontinuities along specific lines. These results are largely independent of the exact shape of the sigmoid function. Our findings match well with previously reported results on a feedback-induced instability of vortex diffusion in a rotationally driven Newtonian fluid (Zeitz et al 2015 Eur. Phys. J. E 38 22). Thus, our model captures the essential features of nonlocal delayed feedback control in spatially extended dissipative systems.
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