Sonomaglev: Combining acoustic and diamagnetic levitation

Hunter-Brown, George; Sampara, Naresh; Scase, Matthew M.; Hill, Richard J.A.

Abstract

Acoustic levitation and diamagnetic levitation are experimental methods that enable the contact-free study of both liquid droplets and solid particles. Here, we combine both the techniques into a single system that takes advantage of the strengths of each, allowing for the manipulation of levitated spherical water droplets (30 nl-14 μl) under conditions akin to weightlessness, in the laboratory, using a superconducting magnet fitted with two low-power ultrasonic transducers. We show that multiple droplets, arranged horizontally along a line, can be stably levitated with this system and demonstrate controlled contactless coalescence of two droplets. Numerical simulation of the magnetogravitational and acoustic potential reproduces the multiple stable equilibrium points observed in our experiments.

Citation

Hunter-Brown, G., Sampara, N., Scase, M. M., & Hill, R. J. (2023). Sonomaglev: Combining acoustic and diamagnetic levitation. Applied Physics Letters, 122(1), Article 014103. https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0134297

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Dec 21, 2022
• Online Publication Date: Jan 5, 2023
• Publication Date: Jan 5, 2023
• Deposit Date: Jan 6, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 6, 2023
• Journal: Applied Physics Letters
• Print ISSN: 0003-6951
• Electronic ISSN: 1077-3118
• Publisher: AIP Publishing
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 122
• Issue: 1
• Article Number: 014103
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0134297
• Keywords: Physics and Astronomy (miscellaneous)
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/15717734
• Publisher URL: https://aip.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/5.0134297
• Additional Information: Received: 2022-11-09; Accepted: 2022-12-21; Published: 2023-01-05