Pattern formation in a sinusoidally driven ferrofluid system

Abstract

The generation of arbitrary patterns in a ferrofluid using spatio-temporal magnetic surface modes of varying spatial frequency is outlined. A modal decomposition algorithm is presented to reconstruct arbitrary patterns using these modes. Generation of these modes in a ferrofluid using a vertically-oriented sinusoidally driven magnetic field on the surface of a ferrofluid layer of depth d is demonstrated and characterized.