Thermal fluctuations of a liquid film on a heterogeneous solid substrate

Olivier Pierre-Louis (1)

1 ILM - Institut Lumière Matière [Villeurbanne]

The dynamics of the fluctuations of a liquid film on a heterogeneous substrate is analyzed. We consider the case of a viscous liquid in the Stokes limit, with small variations of substrate height and a small varying slip length. We discuss the possibility of extracting the topographic profile or the slip length profile at the liquid-solid interface from the measurement of the fluctuations of the free liquid surface. Our results, therefore, explore the theoretical basis of a strategy for a fluctuation-induced microscopy of immersed solids at the micrometer scale.

Domaines: Chimie; Physique [physics]; Sciences de l'ingénieur [physics]

Olivier Pierre-Louis. Thermal fluctuations of a liquid film on a heterogeneous solid substrate. Physical Review E , 2016, 94, pp.032802. ⟨10.1103/PhysRevE.94.032802⟩. ⟨hal-02290212⟩