UC San Diego

We exploit large accelerations associated with surface acoustic waves to drive an extraordinary fluid jetting phenomena. Laterally focusing the acoustic energy to a small region beneath a drop placed on the surface causes rapid interfacial destabilization. Above a critical Weber number We, an elongated jet forms for drops with dimensions greater than the fluid sound wavelength. Further increases in We lead to single droplet pinch-off and subsequent axisymmetric breakup to form multiple droplets. A simple equation based on a momentum balance is derived to predict the jet velocity.