title: Capillary levelling of a cylindrical hole in a viscous film.
abstract: The capillary levelling of cylindrical holes in viscous polystyrene films was studied using atomic force microscopy as well as quantitative analytical scaling arguments based on thin film theory and self-similarity. The relaxation of the holes was shown to consist of two different time regimes: an early regime where opposing sides of the hole do not interact, and a late regime where the hole is filling up. For the latter, the self-similar asymptotic profile was derived analytically and shown to be in excellent agreement with experimental data. Finally, a binary system of two holes in close proximity was investigated where the individual holes fill up at early times and coalesce at longer times.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics & Astronomy and the Brockhouse Institute for Materials Research, McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada. dalnoki@mcmaster.ca.
authors.forename: Matilda
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Backholm
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Benzaquen
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Salez
authors.forename: Elie
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Raphaël
authors.forename: Kari
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Dalnoki-Veress