Surface tension measurement of liquid metal with inelastic light-scattering spectroscopy of a thermally excited capillary wave

Abstract

Thermally excited capillary waves propagate everywhere on a liquid surface. The relationship between the frequency and wavelength of the capillary wave reflects the surface tension of the liquid, and the lifetime of the capillary wave reflects the shear viscosity of the liquid. By observing a capillary wave with inelastic light-scattering spectroscopy, we can obtain the surface tension and the viscosity from the frequency modulation of the light and the spectral width of the scattered light. In this study, we observed capillary waves on liquid metal using high-resolution spectroscopy, and successfully measured their properties in a non-contact manner. In the experiment, values were obtained at a frequency of about 20 kHz. The values were equivalent to those at 0 Hz, since the properties of liquid metals are constant at least in the frequency region from 0 to several tens of kilohertz.