Laser-driven accelerated growth of dendritic patterns

TL;DR

This paper introduces a laser-based method to rapidly grow dendritic patterns in liquids using minimal power and carbon nanotubes, enabling new experimental and theoretical studies of pattern formation.

Contribution

It demonstrates a novel laser-driven technique for accelerating dendritic growth in liquids with diverse patterns, utilizing CNTs as heat sources.

Findings

Dendritic growth speed is significantly increased using laser and CNTs.

The diffusion equation with a heat source explains the growth dynamics.

Microscopic solvability theory breaks down near the heat source.

Abstract

We report a scheme for very significantly accelerating growth of dendritic patterns in diverse liquids, making use of only a few hundred microwatts of laser power in the presence of an efficient absorber like carbon nanotubes (CNTs). The CNTs act as a heat source that drives dendritic growth; their anisotropy ensures a rich diversity of branched patterns. We rationalize the unprecedented speed of dendritic growth using a diffusion equation for the temperature field with an additional source term. Close to the heat source, the well-established microscopic solvability theory is seen to break down. Our method opens new vistas for experimental and theoretical studies of pattern formation in liquids.