title: Ripening of ordered breath figures
abstract: We have investigated the ripening of breath figures with variable initial order. A dramatic impact of the degree of order on the coalescence behavior is observed. As opposed to the two-droplet coalescence events common to the usual disordered droplet arrays, four-droplet coalescence cascades predominate in a perfectly hexagonal breath figure. Upon introduction of disorder, a gradual transition to a regime dominated by three-droplet cascades is observed. The statistics of coalescence cascades allows for detailed conclusions on the microscopic droplet dynamics.
authors.affiliation: Max-Planck-Institut fur Kolloid- und Grenzflachenforschung, Forschungscampus Golm, 14476 Golm, Germany.
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Gau
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Herminghaus