Gravity-free hydraulic jumps and metal femtocups

Abstract

Hydraulic jumps created by gravity are seen every day in the kitchen sink. We show that at small scales a circular hydraulic jump can be created in the absence of gravity, by surface tension. The theory is motivated by our experimental finding of a height discontinuity in spreading submicron molten metal droplets created by pulsed-laser ablation. By careful control of initial conditions, we show that this leads to solid femtolitre cups of gold, silver, copper, niobium and tin.