Acoustic manipulation of multi-body structures and dynamics.

Sound can exert forces on objects of any material and shape. This has made the contactless manipulation of objects by intense ultrasound a fascinating area of research with wide-ranging applications. While much is understood for acoustic forcing of individual objects, sound-mediated interactions among multiple objects at close range gives rise to a rich set of structures and dynamics that are less explored and have been emerging as a frontier for research. We introduce the basic mechanisms giving rise to sound-mediated interactions among rigid as well as deformable particles, focusing on the regime where the particles' size and spacing are much smaller than the sound wavelength. The interplay of secondary acoustic scattering, Bjerknes forces, and micro-streaming is discussed and the role of particle shape is highlighted. Furthermore, we present recent advances in characterizing non-conservative and non-pairwise additive contributions to the particle interactions, along with instabilities and active fluctuations. These excitations emerge at sufficiently strong sound energy density and can act as an effective temperature in otherwise athermal systems.

Hydrodynamic coupling melts acoustically levitated crystalline rafts.

Going beyond the manipulation of individual particles, first steps have recently been undertaken with acoustic levitation in air to investigate the collective dynamical properties of many-body systems self-assembled within the levitation plane. However, these assemblies have been limited to two-dimensional, close-packed rafts where forces due to scattered sound pull particles into direct frictional contact. Here, we overcome this restriction using particles small enough that the viscosity of air establishes a repulsive streaming flow at close range. By tuning the particle size relative to the characteristic length scale for viscous streaming, we control the interplay between attractive and repulsive forces and show how particles can be assembled into monolayer lattices with tunable spacing. While the strength of the levitating sound field does not affect the particles' steady-state separation, it controls the emergence of spontaneous excitations that can drive particle rearrangements in an effectively dissipationless, underdamped environment. Under the action of these excitations, a quiescent particle lattice transitions from a predominantly crystalline structure to a two-dimensional liquid-like state. We find that this transition is characterized by dynamic heterogeneity and intermittency, involving cooperative particle movements that remove the timescale associated with caging for the crystalline lattice. These results shed light on the nature of athermal excitations and instabilities that can arise from strong hydrodynamic coupling among interacting particles.

Precision measurement of tribocharging in acoustically levitated sub-millimeter grains.

Contact electrification of dielectric grains forms the basis for a myriad of physical phenomena. However, even the basic aspects of collisional charging between grains are still unclear. Here, we develop a new experimental method, based on acoustic levitation, which allows us to controllably and repeatedly collide two sub-millimeter grains and measure the evolution of their electric charges. This is, therefore, the first tribocharging experiment to provide complete electric isolation for the grain-grain system from its surroundings. We use this method to measure collisional charging rates between pairs of grains for three different material combinations: polyethylene-polyethylene, polystyrene-polystyrene, and polystyrene-sulfonated polystyrene. The ability to directly and noninvasively collide particles of different constituent materials, chemical functionality, size, and shape opens the door to detailed studies of collisional charging in granular materials.

Force and Mass Dynamics in Non-Newtonian Suspensions.

Above a certain solid fraction, dense granular suspensions in water exhibit non-Newtonian behavior, including impact-activated solidification. Although it has been suggested that solidification depends on boundary interactions, quantitative experiments on the boundary forces have not been reported. Using high-speed video, tracer particles, and photoelastic boundaries, we determine the impactor kinematics and the magnitude and timings of impactor-driven events in the body and at the boundaries of cornstarch suspensions. We observe mass shocks in the suspension during impact. The shock front dynamics are strongly correlated to those of the intruder. However, the total momentum associated with this shock never approaches the initial impactor momentum. We also observe a faster second front associated with the propagation of pressure to the boundaries of the suspension. The two fronts depend differently on the initial impactor speed v_{0} and the suspension packing fraction. The speed of the pressure wave is at least an order of magnitude smaller than (linear) ultrasound speeds obtained for much higher frequencies, pointing to complex amplitude and frequency response of cornstarch suspensions to compressive strains.