title: Complete wetting of curved microscopic channels.
abstract: We have measured the adsorption of argon films on arrays of microscopic nonlinear cusps and of semicircular channels. In the former case, we observe a distinct crossover from a planarlike to a geometry dependent growth behavior near liquid-vapor bulk coexistence, characterized by a growth exponent chi equal to -0.96+/-0.04 in very good agreement with the predictions of a recent scaling theory [C. Rascon and A. O. Parry, J. Chem. Phys. 112, 5175 (2000)]. The crossover location is also consistent with theory. Instead, on the concave channels we find a much steeper growth near saturation that may signal the formation of two menisci at both sides of the channel bottom.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Fisica Galileo Galilei, Università di Padova, via Marzolo 8, 35131 Padova, Italy.
authors.forename: Lorenzo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bruschi
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Fois
authors.forename: Giampaolo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mistura
authors.forename: Massimo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tormen
authors.forename: Valeria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Garbin
authors.forename: Enzo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: di Fabrizio
authors.forename: Annamaria
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gerardino
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Natali