Acoustic streaming in two-dimensional freely suspended smectic liquid crystal films

Abstract

We study horizontal streaming excited by means of a low-frequency and low-intensity acoustic wave in 2D freely suspended films of thermotropic smectic liquid crystals. Acoustic pressure induces fast periodic transverse oscillations of the film, which produce in-plane stationary couples of vortices slowly rotating in opposite directions owing to hydrodynamic nonlinearity. The parameters of the vortices are measured using a new method, based on tracking solidlike disk-shaped islands. The horizontal motion occurs only when the amplitude of the acoustic pressure exceeds the threshold value, which can be explained by Bingham-like behavior of the smectic film. The measurements above threshold are in good agreement with existing theoretical predictions. We demonstrate experimentally that in-plane flow is well controlled by changing the acoustic pressure, excitation frequency, and geometry of the film. The observations open the way to using the phenomenon in nondisplay applications.