Abstract

Pilot-wave hydrodynamics provides a unique experimental platform for exploring the dynamics of active particles coupled through a self-generated wave field. In this talk, I will describe our efforts, beginning with the fundamental experimental challenge of reproducibly generating millimetric droplets. I will briefly discuss how ideas from capillarity and ligament breakup enable precise control over droplet size before turning to the rich dynamics that emerge when these droplets bounce and walk on a vibrating bath. I will highlight how non-resonant vertical dynamics influence the horizontal motion of individual walkers and how imposed wave fields can be used to manipulate their trajectories, including in experiments inspired by Kapitza–Dirac diffraction. I will conclude by discussing our ongoing efforts to extend these ideas to many interacting walkers and to use pilot-wave hydrodynamics as a model system for studying wave-mediated active matter.

Biography

I am a fluid mechanician interested in problems where capillarity plays a feature-defining role. Most of my recent work is centered around fluid-fluid displacement in disordered environments and pilot-wave hydrodynamics. Before joining Yale, I was an Applied Math Instructor at MIT. I hold a PhD from MIT, as well as a BSc and MSc from the University of Alberta.