Coarsening through directed droplet coalescence in fluid-fluid phase separation.
Phase-separation dynamics of an asymmetric mixture of an isotropic dopant in a nematogenic fluid is presented. We show that, on steady cooling, the nucleating nematic drops move down the dopant concentration gradient, with a velocity that is dependent on the cooling rate and concentration gradient. This propulsion of the drops leads to a mechanism of droplet coarsening, where radius of a drop scales with time as R(t) approximately t. Various mechanisms for droplet propulsion are discussed.
Thakur
Snigdha
S
Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai 600036, India.
Pullarkat
Pramod A
PA
Kumar
P B Sunil
PB