Viscous fingering in volatile thin films.
A thin water film on a cleaved mica substrate undergoes a first-order phase transition between two values of film thickness. By inducing a finite evaporation rate of the water, the interface between the two phases develops a fingering instability similar to that observed in the Saffman-Taylor problem. We draw the connection between the two problems, and construct solutions describing the dynamics of evaporation in this system.
Agam
Oded
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The Racah Institute of Physics, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem 91904, Israel.