Pa. Petit et al., PATTERNS IN A FERROFLUID FILM UNDER NORMAL FIELDS - SHAPE OF THICKNESS MODULATIONS AND HYSTERESIS, Journal of magnetism and magnetic materials, 122(1-3), 1993, pp. 271-276
A film of ferrofluid, subjected to normal fields, shows thickness modu
lations that appear as lattices of 'bubbles'. Depending on field varia
tions and magnetic history, different patterns and hysteresis are obta
ined. Using image processing, some of these patterns have been analyze
d and the shape of thickness modulations measured to deduce the evolut
ion of surface and gravity energy terms.