Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Acousto Characterization Of Fluid-Like Mesoscopic Films Under Shear, Rodolfo Fernandez, Xiaohua Wang, Andres H. La Rosa

Physics Faculty Publications and Presentations

Full understanding of the physics underlying the striking changes-in viscoelasticity, relaxation time, and phase transitions-that mesoscopic fluid-like systems undergo when placed under confinement or when adsorbed at solid surfaces constitutes a long standing scientific challenge. One of the methods used to characterize these films consists of bringing a solid boundary closer to another solid boundary (while in relative lateral periodic motion) with a liquid trapped in between. In addition, using a tapered probe (~ 50 nm apex diameter) as one of the boundaries improves the lateral resolution of the measurement. In this scenario, the dynamics of the fluid is inferred …