Studies of acousto-electrically levitated drop and particle clusters and arrays

Research into the behavior of clusters and arrays of fluid or solid particl es is made possible by acousto-electric levitation in air and charging of " seed" droplets (10-30 mu m in diameter) which come together in 2-D clusters (with up to 300 droplets). Such clusters condense into larger drops (e.g. 50-300 mu m) which form uniformly spaced 2-D arrays of monodispersed drops. Similar behavior has been observed for charged solid particles. This resea rch has applications to studies of drop evaporation, combustion, nucleation , and materials synthesis. (C) 1999 Acoustical Society of America.