title: Area and edge effects in radiometric forces.
abstract: The radiometric force on several configurations of heated plates placed in a stagnant gas is examined experimentally, with a high-resolution thrust stand, and numerically using the direct simulation Monte Carlo method and a discrete ordinate solution of a model kinetic equation. A wide range of pressures from 0.006 to 6 Pa was examined, corresponding to Knudsen numbers from 20 to 0.02, in argon and helium test gases. The radiometric force, important in a number of emerging micro- and nanoscale applications, is shown to be mostly area dependent in the transitional regime where it reaches its maximum at Kn approximately 0.1.
authors.affiliation: University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089, USA.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Selden
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ngalande
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gimelshein
authors.forename: E P
authors.initials: EP
authors.lastname: Muntz
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Alexeenko
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ketsdever