Diffraction of walking drops by a standing Faraday wave
OA Version
Citation
V. Frumkin, B. Primkulov, D. Evans, P. Saenz, J. Bush. 2025. "Diffraction of walking drops by a standing Faraday wave" Physical Review Research, Volume 7, Issue 013226. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.7.013226
Abstract
The Kapitza-Dirac effect is the diffraction of quantum particles by a standing wave of light. We here report an analogous phenomenon in pilot-wave hydrodynamics, wherein droplets walking across the surface of a vibrating liquid bath are deflected by a standing Faraday wave. We show that, in certain parameter regimes, the statistical distribution of the droplet deflection angles reveals a diffraction pattern reminiscent of that observed in the Kapitza-Dirac effect. Through experiments and simulations, we show that the diffraction pattern results from the complex interactions of the droplets with the standing wave. Our study highlights nonresonant effects associated with the detuning of the droplet bouncing and the bath vibration, which are shown to lead to drop speed variations and droplet sorting according to the droplet's phase of impact. We discuss the similarities and differences between our hydrodynamic system and the discrete and continuum interpretations of the Kapitza-Dirac effect, and introduce the notion of ponderomotive effects in pilot-wave hydrodynamics.
Published by the American Physical Society
2025
Description
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI.