Two-Dimensional Melting of a Crystal of Ferrofluid Spikes

François Boyer (1, 2) , Eric Falcon (3)

1 IUSTI - Institut universitaire des systèmes thermiques industriels
2 LBBE - Laboratoire de Biométrie et Biologie Evolutive - UMR 5558
3 MSC - Matière et Systèmes Complexes

We report the observation of the transition from an ordered solid-like phase to a disordered liquid-like phase of a lattice of spikes on a ferrofluid surface submitted to horizontal sinusoidal vibrations. The melting transition occurs for a critical spike displacement which is experimentally found to follow the Lindemann criterion, for two different lattice topologies (hexagonal and square) and over a wide range of lattice wavelengths. An intermediate hexatic-like phase between the solid and isotropic liquid phases is also observed and characterized by standard correlation functions. This dissipative out-of-equilibrium system exhibits strong similarities with 2D melting in solid-state physics.

Mots clés: 2D melting; transition; solid; liquid; hexatic; out-of-equilibrium transition; correlation functions; Lindemann criterion; KTHNY; experiment; ferrofluid

Domaines: Dynamique des Fluides [physics.flu-dyn]; Dynamique Chaotique [nlin.CD]; Autre [cond-mat.other]; Mécanique statistique [cond-mat.stat-mech]; Biomécanique [physics.med-ph]; Mécanique des fluides [physics.class-ph]

François Boyer, Eric Falcon. Two-Dimensional Melting of a Crystal of Ferrofluid Spikes. Physical Review Letters, 2009, 103 (14), pp.144501. ⟨10.1103/PhysRevLett.103.144501⟩. ⟨hal-00418384⟩