Wave-driven assembly of quasi periodic patterns of particles

TL;DR

This paper presents a theory and experimental validation showing that superimposed plane waves can assemble small particles into quasiperiodic patterns in fluids, with potential applications in optical and wave-based particle manipulation.

Contribution

It introduces a novel theoretical framework for wave-driven quasiperiodic particle assembly and demonstrates its practical implementation using ultrasound in water.

Findings

Good agreement between theory and ultrasound experiments

Successful assembly of quasiperiodic patterns of nanoparticles

Applicable to other wave-based particle arrangement systems

Abstract

We theoretically show that a superposition of plane waves causes small (compared to the wavelength) particles dispersed in a fluid to assemble in quasiperiodic two or three dimensional patterns. We experimentally demonstrate this theory by using ultrasound waves to assemble quasiperiodic patterns of carbon nanoparticles in water using an octagonal arrangement of ultrasound transducers, and we document good agreement between theory and experiments. The theory also applies to obtaining quasiperiodic patterns in other situations where particles move with linear waves, such as optical lattices.