Statistics of fluctuating colloidal fluid-fluid interfaces.
Fluctuations of the interface between coexisting colloidal fluid phases have been measured with confocal microscopy. Due to a very low surface tension, the thermal motions of the interface are so slow that a record can be made of the positions of the interface. The theory of the interfacial height fluctuations is developed. For a host of correlation functions, the experimental data are compared with the theoretical expressions. The agreement between theory and experiment is remarkably good.
de Villeneuve
V W A
VW
Van 't Hoff Laboratory for Physical and Colloid Chemistry, University of Utrecht, Padualaan 8, 3584 CH Utrecht, The Netherlands. vdevilleneuve@hotmail.com
van Leeuwen
J M J
JM
van Saarloos
W
W
Lekkerkerker
H N W
HN