Wave-based liquid-interface metamaterials.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 28181490.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/ncomms14325 and PMC identifier 5311468.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
The control of matter motion at liquid-gas interfaces opens an opportunity to create two-dimensional materials with remotely tunable properties. In analogy with optical lattices used in ultra-cold atom physics, such materials can be created by a wave field capable of dynamically guiding matter into periodic spatial structures. Here we show experimentally that such structures can be realized at the macroscopic scale on a liquid surface by using rotating waves. The wave angular momentum is transferred to floating micro-particles, guiding them along closed trajectories. These orbits form stable spatially periodic patterns, the unit cells of a two-dimensional wave-based material. Such dynamic patterns, a mirror image of the concept of metamaterials, are scalable and biocompatible. They can be used in assembly applications, conversion of wave energy into mean two-dimensional flows and for organising motion of active swimmers.