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Bouncing droplets mimic spin systems

Experiments show that a collection of bouncing fluid droplets can behave like a microscopic system of spins — the intrinsic angular momenta of particles. This discovery could lead to a better understanding of the physics of spin systems.
  1. Nicolas Vandewalle

    1. Nicolas Vandewalle is at the GRASP Laboratory, Department of Physics, University of Liège, 4000 Liège, Belgium.

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In 2005, researchers found that bouncing fluid droplets on the surface of a vibrating liquid bath can self-propel1. Remarkably, the dynamical and statistical features of this macroscopic system resemble those of microscopic quantum systems. Building on this work, Sáenz et al.2 report in Nature that arrays of bouncing droplets can mimic systems of spins (the intrinsic angular momenta of particles). The authors’ discovery could increase knowledge of these spin systems, which have uses in spin-based electronics and computing.

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Nature 596, 40-41 (2021)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-02077-6

References

  1. Couder, Y., Protière, S., Fort, E. & Boudaoud, A. Nature 437, 208 (2005).

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  2. Sáenz, P. J. et al. Nature 596, 58–62 (2021).

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  3. Strogatz, S. H. Nonlinear Dynamics and Chaos (CRC Press, 2018).

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  4. Stanley, H. E. Introduction to Phase Transitions and Critical Phenomena (Oxford Univ. Press, 1971).

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  5. Eddi, A., Decelle, A., Fort, E. & Couder, Y. Europhys. Lett. 87, 56002 (2009).

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  6. Filoux, B., Hubert, M. & Vandewalle, N. Phys. Rev. E 92, 041004 (2015).

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Competing Interests

The author declares no competing interests.

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