Non-monotonic dynamics of thin film spreading.

The phenomenon of a precursor spreading in front of an advancing droplet is still not fully understood. We recently used a driven lattice-gas model to study the microscopic dynamics of thin film spreading. We found that the scaling exponents describing the dynamics of both the precursor and the bulk layers are not universal, and strongly depend on the parameters describing the various interactions in the system. In this paper we show yet another nontrivial and rich behavior of the system. This is the non-monotonicity of the exponents, which reflects the competition between the various mechanisms that drive the system. In particular, we study the dependence of the scaling exponents on the ratio of the external substrate potential and the internal short-range interactions that drive the spreading in both layers.

Effect of temperature on the dynamics and geometry of reactive-wetting interfaces around room temperature.

The temperature effect on the dynamics and geometry of a mercury droplet (∼150 µm) spreading on a silver substrate (4000 Å) was studied. The system temperature was controlled by a heating stage in the temperature range of -15 °C < T < 25 °C, and the spreading process was monitored using an optical microscope. We studied the wetting dynamics (droplet radius and velocity) as a function of temperature. We found that for all studied temperatures, the spreading radius R(t) grows linearly with time, with a velocity value depending on temperature. We also studied the temperature effect on the kinetic roughening properties of the advancing interface (growth (ß) and roughness (α) exponents). Our results show that the growth exponent increases with temperature while the roughness exponent is relatively constant. In addition, we obtained the system's activation energy at this temperature range.

Persistence in reactive-wetting interfaces.

In this paper, we report on persistence results of reactive-wetting advancing interfaces performed with mercury on silver at room temperature. Earlier kinetic roughening studies of reactive-wetting systems at room temperature as well as at high temperatures revealed some limited information on the spatiotemporal behavior of these systems. However, by calculating the persistence exponent, we were able to identify two distinct kinetic time regimes in this process. In the first one, while the interface is moving but its width is not yet growing, the persistence exponent is θ=0.55±0.05, which is typical for a random, noisy behavior. In the second regime, there is an effective growth of the interface width with a growth exponent ß=0.67±0.06 followed by saturation, according to the Family-Vicsek description of interface growth. The persistence exponent in this regime is θ=0.37±0.05, which indicates that the relation θ=1-ß seems to hold even for this nonlinear experimental system.

Reflected light intensity profile of two-layer tissues: phantom experiments.

Experimental measurements of the reflected light intensity from two-layer phantoms are presented. We report, for the first time, an experimental observation of a typical reflected light intensity behavior for the two-layer structure characterized by two different slopes in the reflected light profile of the irradiated tissue. The point in which the first slope changes to the second slope, named as the crossover point, depends on the upper layer thickness as well as on the ratio between the absorption coefficients of the two layers. Since similar experiments from one-layer phantoms present a monotonic decay behavior, the existence and the location of the crossover point can be used as a diagnostic fingerprint for two-layer tissue structures. This pertains to two layers with greater absorptivity in the upper layer, which is the typical biological case in tissues like skin.

Estimation of the optimal wavelengths for laser-induced wound healing.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: According to earlier in vitro low level laser therapy (LLLT) studies, wavelengths in the red and near infrared range, that are absorbed by cytochrome oxidase, stimulate cell growth and hence wound healing. Wavelengths in the blue region that are absorbed by flavins were found to exert a bactericidal effect that is very important for treating infected wounds. However, as far as therapeutic application of light is concerned, penetration into the tissue must be considered. For this purpose we estimated the penetration depth as a function of the relevant wavelengths, using the formulae of the photon migration model for skin tissue. METHODS: We use the photon diffusion model, which is an analytical model for describing light transfer in biological tissues. We refer to the most common chromophores in human tissue and evaluate their volume fraction and concentration in skin cells. These empirically estimated mean wavelength-dependent absorption coefficients are then substituted in the theoretical expressions for the optical penetration depth in the tissue. The wavelengths, for which the penetration depth is the highest, are the optimal wavelengths to be used in wound healing treatments. RESULTS: Our model suggests that the optimal wavelengths for therapeutic treatments are in the red region with a local maximum at 730 nm. As to the blue region, a local maximum at 480 nm was found. CONCLUSION: Light at 480 nm should be used for treating infected wounds followed by 730 nm light for enhancing wound closure.

Reactive wetting in metal-metal systems.

Wetting and spreading in high temperature reactive metal-metal systems is of significant importance in many joining processes. An overview of reactive wetting is presented outlining the principal differences between inert and reactive wetting. New experimental evidence is presented that identifies an early time regime in reactive wetting in which spreading occurs without macroscopic morphological change of the solid-liquid interface. This regime precedes the heavily studied reactive wetting regime. Additional new experimental evidence is presented of kinetic roughening in a high temperature reactive system. Quantitative characterization of this roughening reveals similarities with room temperature systems. These new data provide evidence that supports the existence of several sequential time regimes in the reactive wetting process in which different physicochemical phenomena are dominant.

Spreading of mercury droplets on thin silver films at room temperature.

We study the spreading characteristics of a reactive-wetting system of mercury (Hg) droplets on silver (Ag) films in room temperature. This is done using our recently developed method for reconstructing the dynamical three-dimensional shape of spreading droplets from two-dimensional microscope images [A. Be'er and Y. Lereah, J. Microsc. 208, 148 (2002)]. We study the time evolution of the droplet radius and its contact angle, and find that the spreading process consists of two stages: (i) the "bulk propagation" regime, controlled by chemical reaction on the surface, and (ii) the "fast-flow" regime, which occurs within the metal film as well as on the surface and consists of both reactive and diffusive propagation. We show that the transition time between the two main time regimes depends solely on the thickness of the Ag film. We also discuss the chemical structure of the intermetallic compound formed in this process.

Dynamical localization-delocalization transition of the reaction-diffusion front at a semipermeable cellulose membrane.

We study the kinetics of the reaction front in the A+B-->C reaction-diffusion system with reactants initially separated by a semipermeable membrane. The semipermeable membrane allows only one reactant species to go through ("penetrating species") while the other reactant species is sterically prohibited from penetration. Theoretically, the ratio of the diffusive fluxes of the two species has been defined before as a control parameter and it was predicted [Chopard, Phys. Rev. E 56, 5343 (1997)] to give rise to a localization-delocalization transition of the reaction front. In this paper we show the experimental realization of a dynamical localization-delocalization transition, in a system consisting of the reactants Ca2+ and calcium green-1 dextran, separated by a finite-sized cellulose membrane. The dynamical transition results from the continuous change in time of the flux of the penetrating species at the reaction boundary. Here this time-dependent flux is attributed to the free diffusion of the penetrating species through a membrane with a finite thickness. The dynamical transition is exemplified by the kinetic behavior of the front characteristics which exhibits several time regimes--an early time, an intermediate time, and an asymptotic time regime. The crossover times between these regimes are found to depend on the membrane thickness, a parameter not considered before to our knowledge. Monte Carlo simulations show good agreement with the finite-time experiments.

Perturbation analysis for competing reactions with initially separated components.

We study a competitive reaction-diffusion system with initially separated components. In this system, two similar species on one side of the system compete to react with the species on the other side. The competition is due to significant differences in the microscopic reaction constants and the initial densities of the two competing species. In the short-time limit, each of the competitive reactions is considered as perturbation with respect to the diffusion, the latter is essential for the effective mixing of the reactants. We identify the small parameters required for the perturbation analysis of the competitive scheme. The resulting perturbative expressions provide the rich spatiotemporal reaction front patterns, which were experimentally observed for Cr3+ + Xylenol Orange (XO) --> products, where the aggregated and nonaggregated forms of Cr3+ in aqueous solution compete to react with the XO.

Reaction-diffusion front width anomalies in disordered media.

We study the front characteristics of the A + B --> C reaction-diffusion system with initially separated reactants in disordered media, exemplified by two-dimensional (2D) percolation. We investigate the front characteristics as a function of the disorder degree in this system, in particular close to criticality. We show that the front width exponent is larger than the mean-field (MF) exponent of 1/6, and at criticality it approaches 1/4, which is the one-dimensional (1D) exponent. We show that previous predictions in the literature for the 2D percolation cluster at criticality are wrong. The results are discussed in the context of other systems with attenuated transport where the front width exponent is smaller than the MF exponent. We also study the short-time behavior of the front width exponent, and discuss the validity of the scaling relations between the relevant exponents.

Effect of a slit-shaped trap on depletion kinetics within a microchannel.

The diffusion-limited trapping reaction kinetics of the growth of the depletion zone within and around a "slit-shaped" trap in a flat microchannel was studied experimentally and numerically. In the experiment, an ellipse-shaped laser beam acted as a slit trap in a long, flat capillary, and the trapping reaction is photobleaching of fluorescein dye. The parameter studied was the theta distance, i.e., the distance from the trap to the point where the reactant concentration has been locally depleted to the specific survival fraction [theta] of its initial bulk value. When the trap is perfect, then, due to the geometry of the trap and the reactor, as many as three time regimes can be found, with up to two crossover transitions. The number of crossovers is determined by the relative sizes of the trap and the microreactor. In the case of two crossovers, we show that the first crossover relates to the length of the trap, while the second crossover relates to the width of the reactor. When the slit trap is imperfect and its width cannot be neglected, as is the case in the experiments, a nontrivial early behavior is observed, followed by two regions in time, separated by a single crossover only.

Interface roughening dynamics: temporal width fluctuations and the correlation length.

In this work we study experimentally and numerically the temporal width fluctuations obtained in kinetic roughening of single interfaces. This fluctuative behavior, which results from competing mechanisms in the interface growth process, is shown to contain information on the growth process of the specific interface. We define a measure of the temporal interface width fluctuations in order to extract the correlation length of the interface from the fluctuating data. We study numerically the quenched Kardar-Parisi-Zhang (QKPZ) equation for single interfaces in order to assess the role of the different mechanisms, such as normal growth and surface tension, on the fluctuations. We analyze experimental data of mercury droplets spreading on various metal films (silver and gold) in various thicknesses, as well as data of water spreading on paper (imbibition), in order to demonstrate the validity of our method in a wide range of growing interfaces.

Depletion kinetics in the photobleaching trapping reaction inside a flat microchannel.

The diffusion-limited kinetics of the growth of a depletion zone around a static point trap in a thin, long channel geometry was studied using a laser photobleaching experiment of fluorescein dye inside a flat rectangular capillary. The dynamics of the depletion zone was monitored by the theta distance, defined as the distance from the trap to the point where the reactant concentration has been locally depleted to the specified survival fraction (theta) of its initial bulk value. A dimensional crossover from two dimensions to one dimension, due to the finite width of the reaction zone, was observed. We define a "parallel" and a "perpendicular" theta distance, along the slab long and short dimensions, respectively, and study their time development as a means to study the asymmetrical nature of the slab geometry. For all theta values, the crossover occurs concurrently for both theta distances when the depletion zone touches the boundary for the first time. We derive theoretical expressions for this geometry and compare them with the experimental data. We also obtain important insight from the ratio of the reactant concentration profiles in the parallel and perpendicular directions. Exact enumeration and Monte Carlo simulations support the anomalous depletion scaling results. Nevertheless, the crossover time (tau(c)) is still found to scale with the width (W) of the rectangular reaction zone as tau(c) approximately W2 , as expected from the basic Einstein diffusion law.

Roughness and growth in a continuous fluid invasion model.

We have studied interface characteristics in a continuous fluid invasion model, first introduced by Phys. Rev. Lett. 60, 2042 (1988)]. In this model, the interface grows as a response to an applied quasistatic pressure, which induces various types of instabilities. We suggest a variant of the model, which differs from the original model by the order of instabilities treatment. This order represents the relative importance of the physical mechanisms involved in the system. This variant predicts the existence of a third, intermediate regime, in the behavior of the roughness exponent as a function of the wetting properties of the system. The gradual increase of the roughness exponent in this third regime can explain the scattered experimental data for the roughness exponent in the literature. The growth exponent in this model was found to be around zero, due to the initial rough interface.

Anomalous growth of the depletion zone in the photobleaching trapping reaction.

We study the anomalous growth of the depletion zone at a single trap, as observed in a photobleaching trapping reaction in confined geometry. We provide experimental evidence for a nonuniversal growth of this depletion. We also find an early-time behavior of the depletion zone, owing to the finite size of the trap. Various laser powers are used in order to study the effects of trapping strength, interpreted theoretically in terms of an imperfect trap. The results are supported by numerical calculations. Comparison with other trapping reactions provides insight into finite-size traps.

Dynamics of the depletion zone at a finite-sized imperfect trap in two dimensions: photobleaching experiments and simulations.

The kinetics of the growth of depletion zones around a static trap in an effective two-dimensional geometry were studied experimentally with photobleaching of fluorescein dye by a focused laser beam. The phototrap served as an imperfect trap with a finite size. The growth of the depletion zone was monitored by the theta distance, defined as the distance from the trap to the point where the concentration of the reactants reaches a given arbitrary fraction theta (0