Controlled drop generation via ligament extraction from a static or vibrating liquid bath

Abstract

We introduce a simple method for generating droplets at the surface of a liquid bath by rapidly stretching a liquid ligament with a spring-loaded cylindrical probe. By varying the probe radius $a$ and retraction length $L$, we identify three regimes. Overstretching a thin ligament produces multiple drops, while insufficient stretching of a thick ligament yields none. The optimal regime for single-drop generation lies in between. In the single-drop regime, the drop radius scales as $R \sim a^{2/3} L^{1/3}$, consistent with volume conservation of the stretched ligament. This method enables repeatable generation of single droplets (with <5% variation in $R$) on both still and vibrating baths and of ordered droplet lattices for pilot-wave hydrodynamics experiments.