Experimental Dispersion Relation of Surface Waves Along a Torus of Fluid

TL;DR

This study experimentally investigates gravity-capillary surface waves on a stable fluid torus, revealing detailed dispersion relations, mode structures, and quantization effects using innovative optical measurement techniques.

Contribution

It introduces a novel method to create a stable fluid torus and provides the first detailed dispersion relation of azimuthal waves on such a geometry.

Findings

Identified multiple wave modes including varicose, sinuous, and sloshing.

Observed polygon-like standing wave patterns with variable side numbers.

Demonstrated quantization in the dispersion relation.

Abstract

We report the observation of gravity-capillary waves on a torus of fluid. By means of an original technique, a stable torus is achieved by depositing water on a superhydrophobic groove with a shallow wedge-shaped channel running along its perimeter. Using a spatio-temporal optical measurement, we report the full dispersion relation of azimuthal waves propagating along the inner and outer torus borders, highlighting several branches modeled as varicose, sinuous and sloshing modes. Standing azimuthal waves are also studied leading to polygon-like patterns arising on the two torus borders with a number of sides different when a tunable decoupling of the two interfaces occurs. The quantized nature of the dispersion relation is also evidenced.