Regensburg 2000 – scientific programme

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O: Oberflächenphysik

O 34: Postdeadlinesession

O 34.3: Talk

Thursday, March 30, 2000, 20:30–20:45, H44

Structure formation upon dewetting in thin liquid films — •Karin Jacobs, Ralf Seemann, Stefan Schlagowski, Daniel Podzimek, and Stephan Herminghaus — Uni Ulm, Abt. Angewandte Physik, 89069 Ulm

Structure formation phenomena in thin films are present in everyday life - for instance when pouring a Hefeweizen into a beer glass, where defects lead to dewetting and foam formation. Owing to the immense complexity of the involved mechanisms, there was no general agreement reached concerning the underlying physics of dewetting and structure formation at interfaces. We have therefore studied a model system which turns out to account for all of the important features observed in more complex situtations. Our observations with this system, the dewetting of thin liquid polymer films from glassy surfaces, lead, for the first time, to a consistent picture demonstrating the interplay between short and long range forces, nucleation, spinodal dewetting, and thermal nucleation. Our results may be well understood in terms of the effective interface potential of the system as computed from the optical properties of the substrate and the film material.