GROWTH OF WETTING LAYERS FROM LIQUID-MIXTURES

We have examined the growth with time t of the thickness l of wetting layers from thin films of binary fluid mixtures, using real-space comp osition-depth profiling based on nuclear reaction analysis. We find ov er a wide range of parameters that the observed growth behavior has a power law form l proportional to t(kappa) where kappa is the range 0.2 -0.3. Comparison with the predictions of a diffusion-limited wetting m odel shows that growth of the wetting layers is driven primarily by lo ng-ranged surface fields.