Lateral transport of thermal capillary waves

¹  H.H. Wills Physics Laboratory, University of Bristol - Tyndall Avenue, Bristol BS8 1TL, UK, EU
²  Max-Planck-Institut für Metallforschung - Heisenbergstraße 3, D-70569 Stuttgart, Germany, EU
³  Institut für Theoretische und Angewandte Physik, Universität Stuttgart - D-70569 Stuttgart, Germany, EU
⁴  Institute of Physical Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences, Department III - Kasprzaka 44/52, PL-01-224 Warsaw, Poland, EU
⁵  Theoretische Physik II, Universität Bayreuth - Universitätsstraße 30, D-95440 Bayreuth, Germany, EU

Received: 15 October 2009
Accepted: 9 December 2009

Abstract

We demonstrate that collective motion of interfacial fluctuations can occur at the interface between two coexisting thermodynamic phases. Based on computer simulation results for driven diffusive Ising and Blume-Capel models, we conjecture that the thermal capillary waves at a planar interface travel along the interface, if the lateral order parameter current j(y) is an odd function of the distance y from the interface and hence possesses opposite directions in the two phases. Such motion does not occur if j(y) is an even function of y. A discrete Gaussian interface model with effective dynamics exhibits similiar transport phenomena but with a simpler dispersion relation. These findings open up avenues for controlled interfacial transport on the nanoscale.