Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Sonia Melle.
We report the first experimental observation to our knowledge of a dynamic transition from modelike patterns to completely disordered patterns in a large-aspect-ratio Nd:YAG laser. Recordings of near-field patterns with an integration time as small as 1 ns allow us to follow the evolution of the transverse intensity profile along the output pulse of the laser.
We study shape and buckling transitions of particle-laden sessile and pendant droplets that are forced to shrink in size. Monodisperse polystyrene particles were placed at the interface between water and decane at conditions that are known to produce hexagonal, crystalline arrangements on flat interfaces. As the volumes of the drops are reduced, the surface areas are likewise diminished. This effectively compresses the particle monolayer coating and induces a transition from a fluid film to a solid film. Since the particles are firmly attached to the interface by capillary forces, the shape transitions are reversible and shape/volume curves are the same for drainage and inflation. Measurements of the internal pressure of the drops reveal a strong transition in this variable as the buckling transition is approached.
We prepare solid-stabilized emulsions using paramagnetic particles at an oil/water interface that can undergo macroscopic phase separation upon application of an external magnetic field. A critical field strength is found for which emulsion droplets begin to translate into the continuous-phase fluid. At higher fields, the emulsions destabilize, leading to a fully phase-separated system. This effect is reversible, and long-term stability can be recovered by remixing the components with mechanical agitation.
We report the first direct experimental observation of the fast dynamics (nanosecond scale) of complex two-dimensional transverse patterns in broad area lasers. The laser emission bright peaks forming the transverse patterns are observed to be aperiodically flashing in time with different growing rates. These optical filaments do not move along the cross section during their lifetime, which is close to 2 ns. The experimental observations have also been reproduced by numerical integration of the Maxwell-Bloch equations.
The spatiotemporal evolution of field-induced structures in very dilute polarizable colloidal suspensions subject to rotating magnetic fields has been experimentally studied using video microscopy. We found that there is a crossover Mason number (ratio of viscous to magnetic forces) above which the rotation of the field prevents the particle aggregation to form chains. Therefore, at these high Mason numbers, more isotropic clusters and isolated particles appear. The same behavior was also found in recent scattering dichroism experiments developed in more concentrated suspensions, which seems to indicate that the dynamics does not depend on the volume fraction. Scattering dichroism experiments have been used to study the role played by the volume fraction in suspensions with low concentration. As expected, we found that the crossover Mason number does not depend on the volume fraction. Brownian particle dynamics simulations are also reported, showing good agreement with the experiments.
We used scattering dichroism to study the dynamics of dipolar chains induced in magnetorheological suspensions under rotating magnetic fields. Both the dichroism (proportional to the total number of aggregated particles) and the phase lag show different behavior below and above a cross-over frequency. The cross-over frequency depends linearly on both the square of the magnetization and the inverse of the viscosity. The Mason number (ratio of viscous to magnetic forces) governs the dynamics. Therefore, there is a cross-over Mason number below which the dichroism remains almost constant and above which the rotation of the field prevents the particle aggregation process from taking place. Our experimental results have been compared with particle dynamics simulations showing good agreement.