Title: Friction-driven Vibratory Transport
When: Tuesday, November 19, 2024, 12:00
Place: Department of Theoretical Condensed Matter Physics, Faculty of Sciences, Module 5, Seminar Room (5th Floor)
Speaker: Martín Maza-Cuello, Universidad de Navarra, Spain.
When a surface vibrates, objects standing on it may start drifting. This drift can happen even when the vibrations are horizontal and unbiased, as a result of the coupling between the asymmetry of the oscillation and the nonlinearities of dry friction. In this seminar, I will present recent experiments that employ a ratchet-inspired, biharmonic oscillation to explore how the vibrations’ shape and amplitude determine the drift velocity of a macroscopic particle that lies on top of a flat, vibrating surface. Coupling the oscillations with a minimal friction model explains how the signal’s geometry affects the efficiency of the transport, allowing us to overcome an early conjecture suggesting that the drift velocity would always saturate when increasing the input amplitude. As this simple system allows a precise control of the dynamics of a single particle, it offers an ideal scenario to explore collective motion of identical or diverse particles. I will finish by giving an overview of ongoing experiments and future directions involving many particles, including packing scenarios, flows through constrictions, and competition between particles that move in opposite directions.
