Superfast Thinning of a Nanoscale Thin Liquid Film

Abstract

This fluid dynamics video demonstrates an experiment on superfast thinning of a freestanding thin aqueous film. The production of such films is of fundamental interest for interfacial sciences and the applications in nanoscience. The stable phase of the film is of the order $5-50\,nm$; nevertheless thermal convection can be established which changes qualitatively the thinning behavior from linear to exponentially fast. The film is thermally driven on one spot by a very cold needle, establishing two convection rolls at a Rayleigh number of $10^7$. This in turn enforces thermal and mechanical fluctuations which change the thinning behavior in a peculiar way, as shown in the video.