Biomedical subjects

BM Law

Publications and source records attributed to BM Law.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2000

Ellipsometric determination of universal critical adsorption scaling functions

In this paper we determine and compare a number of theoretical models which describe the universal scaling functions for critical adsorption in the strong surface field limit. The P1 and P3 models, which are continuous up to and including the first and third derivatives, respectively, provide excellent descriptions of the ellipsometric data for four different critical binary liquid mixtures. The exponential-Pade model, initially proposed by Liu and Fisher [Phys. Rev. A 40, 7202 (1989)], provides a reasonable but less accurate description of the one-phase experimental data. This later model has the advantage, however, that it is continuous in all derivatives.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2000

Evidence for dipole surface orientational order at critical interfaces

At the critical interface of dipolar systems theory predicts that the amplitude of the surface orientational order alpha(2)(z) approximately m(*4)d(2)v(z)/dz(2), where m(*) is a reduced dipole moment and v(z) is the local composition at position z within the interface. We find quantitative agreement with these predictions for two different critical binary liquid mixtures composed of a highly polar and a nonpolar component.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2000

Casimir effect in critical films of binary liquid mixtures

We present experimental evidence for the Casimir effect within critical films of binary liquid mixtures possessing opposite boundary conditions (+-) by studying the thickness of these vapor-adsorbed films on a silicon wafer as a function of temperature near the critical temperature. Our results for two different critical mixtures demonstrate that the critical Casimir pressure scaling function vartheta(+-)(y) scales with y=L/xi, where L is the equilibrium film thickness and xi is the bulk correlation length. Additionally, on approaching the critical temperature T(c) an increase in the film thickness L is observed, implying that the sign of the universal Casimir amplitude Delta(+-)=vartheta(+-)(0)/2 at T(c) is positive, consistent with theoretical predictions. However, the magnitude of the Casimir amplitude that we measure is approximately two orders of magnitude smaller than that given by prevailing theories. In the two-phase region of the liquid mixture, preliminary evidence suggests that the adsorbed film undergoes a surface phase transition from a film near the critical composition at T less, similarT(c) to a film near one of the bulk phases at T<<T(c). This low temperature film composition most likely corresponds to the bulk phase rich in the component that preferentially adsorbs at the silicon surface.

Journal Article↗

PubMed1996