Biomedical subjects

Klaus Mecke

Publications and source records attributed to Klaus Mecke.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Microscopic theory for interface fluctuations in binary liquid mixtures.

Thermally excited capillary waves at fluid interfaces in binary liquid mixtures exhibit simultaneously both density and composition fluctuations. Based on a density functional theory for inhomogeneous binary liquid mixtures we derive an effective wavelength dependent Hamiltonian for fluid interfaces in these systems beyond the standard capillary-wave model. Explicit expressions are obtained for the surface tension, the bending rigidities, and the coupling constants of compositional capillary waves in terms of the profiles of the two number densities characterizing the mixture. These results lead to predictions for grazing-incidence x-ray scattering experiments at such interfaces.

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PubMed2005

Local orientations of fluctuating fluid interfaces.

Thermal fluctuations cause the local normal vectors of fluid interfaces to deviate from the vertical direction defined by the flat mean interface position. This leads to a nonzero mean value of the corresponding polar tilt angle which renders a characterization of the thermal state of an interface. Based on the concept of an effective interface Hamiltonian we determine the variances of the local interface position and of its lateral derivatives. This leads to the probability distribution functions for the metric of the interface and for the tilt angle which allows us to calculate its mean value and its mean-square deviation. We compare the temperature dependences of these quantities as predicted by the simple capillary-wave model, by an improved phenomenological model, and by the microscopic effective interface Hamiltonian derived from density-functional theory. The mean tilt angle discriminates clearly between these theoretical approaches and emphasizes the importance of the variation of the surface tension at small wavelengths. Also the tilt angle two-point correlation function is determined which renders an additional structural characterization of interfacial fluctuations. Various experimental accesses to measure the local orientational fluctuations are discussed.

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PubMed2005

Evidence for capillarity contributions to gecko adhesion from single spatula nanomechanical measurements.

The hairy attachment system on a gecko's toes, consisting of one billion spatulae in the case of Gekko gecko [Ruibal, R. & Ernst, V. (1965) J. Morphol. 117, 271-294], allows it to adhere to nearly all surface topographies. The mechanistic basis for gecko adhesion has been intensely investigated, but the lowest hierarchical level, that of the spatula, has become experimentally accessible only recently. This report details measurements of the adhesion force exerted by a single gecko spatula for various atmospheric conditions and surface chemistries. Through judicious choice and modification of substrates, the short- and long-range adhesive forces are separated. In contrast to previous work [Autumn, K., Sitti, M., Liang, Y. C. A., Peattie, A. M., Hansen, W. R., Sponberg, S., Kenny, T. W., Fearing, R., Israelachvili, J. N. & Full, R. J. (2002) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 99, 12252-12256], our measurements clearly show that humidity contributes significantly to gecko adhesion on a nanoscopic level. These findings are crucial for the development of artificial biomimetic attachment systems.

Adhesiveness↗

PubMed2005

Scaling in the time domain: universal dynamics of order fluctuations in Fe3Al.

By focusing a highly brilliant synchrotron x-ray beam to a micrometer spot on a sample, we measured in real time the x-ray intensity fluctuations associated with order fluctuations in crystalline materials. We applied this method to the binary alloy Fe3Al near its continuous A2-B2 phase transformation and determined a specific four-point time correlation function for the order parameter. From a detailed theoretical analysis, dynamical scaling in the time domain with a transition from noncritical to critical dynamics is disclosed.

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PubMed2005

Fractal analysis methods for solid alkane monolayer domains at SiO2/air interfaces.

A systematic evaluation of various fractal analysis methods is essential for studying morphologies of finite and noisy experimental patterns such as domains of long chain alkanes at SiO(2)/air interfaces. The derivation of trustworthy fractal dimensions crucially relies on the definition of confidence intervals for the assumed scaling range. We demonstrate that the determination of the intervals can be improved largely by comparing the scaling behavior of different morphological measures (area, boundary, curvature). We show that the combination of area and boundary data from coarse-grained structures obtained with the box-counting method reveals clear confidence limits and thus credible morphological data. This also holds for the Minkowski density method. It also reveals the confidence range. Its main drawback, the larger swing-in period at the lower cutoff compared to the box-counting method, is compensated by more details on the scaling behavior of area, boundary, and curvature. The sandbox method is less recommendable. It essentially delivers the same data as box-counting, but it is more susceptible to finite size effects at the lower cutoff. It is found that the domain morphology depends on the surface coverage of alkanes. The individual domains at low surface coverage have a fractal dimension of approximately 1.7, whereas at coverages well above 50% the scaling dimension is 2 with a large margin of uncertainty at approximately 50% coverage. This change in morphology is attributed to a crossover from a growth regime dominated by diffusion-limited aggregation of individual domains to a regime where the growth is increasingly affected by annealing and the interaction of solid growth fronts which approach each other and thus compete for the alkane supply.

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