Subnanometer imaging and controlled dynamical patterning of thermocapillary driven deformation of thin liquid films

TL;DR

This paper introduces a combined optical imaging and patterning platform that uses thermocapillary effects to visualize and control subnanometer changes in thin liquid dielectric films, enabling precise topography manipulation and high-sensitivity imaging.

Contribution

It presents a novel integrated system that employs thermocapillary flows and plasmonic resonance tuning for high-resolution visualization and patterning of thin liquid films.

Findings

Thermocapillary flows can create and move droplets on thin films.

Plasmonic microscopy achieves subnanometer vertical resolution.

The platform enables controlled patterning of film topography.

Abstract

Exploring and controlling the physical factors that determine the topography of thin liquid dielectric films are of interest in manifold fields of research in physics, applied mathematics, and engineering and have been a key aspect of many technological advancements. Visualization of thin liquid dielectric film topography and local thickness measurements are essential tools for characterizing and interpreting the underlying processes. However, achieving high sensitivity with respect to subnanometric changes in thickness via standard optical methods is challenging. We propose a combined imaging and optical patterning projection platform that is capable of optically inducing dynamical flows in thin liquid dielectric films and plasmonically resolving the resulting changes in topography and thickness. In particular, we employ the thermocapillary effect in fluids as a novel heat-based method to tune plasmonic resonances and visualize dynamical processes in thin liquid dielectric films. The presented results indicate that light-induced thermocapillary flows can form and translate droplets and create indentation patterns on demand in thin liquid dielectric films of subwavelength thickness and that plasmonic microscopy can image these fluid dynamical processes with a subnanometer sensitivity along the vertical direction.