Publications

P. Paolino and L. Bellon, Optics Communication 280 1-9 (2007)

doi: 10.1016/j.optcom.2007.07.060

We present an application of a quadrature phase interferometer to the measurement of the angular position of a parallel laser beam with interferometric precision. In our experimental realization we reach a resolution of 6.8e-10 rad (1.4e-4 arcsec) for 1 kHz bandwidth in a 2e-2 rad (1 deg) range. This alternative to the optical lever technique features absolute calibration, independence of the sensitivity on the thermal drifts, and wide range of measurement at full accuracy.

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L. Bellon, M. Gibert and R. Hernandez, European Physical Journal B 55 101-107 (2007)

doi: 10.1140/epjb/e2007-00049-y

We study thermal convection in a colloidal glass of Laponite in formation. Low concentration preparation are submitted to destabilizing vertical temperature gradient, and present a gradual transition from a turbulent convective state to a steady conductive state as their viscosity increases. The time spent under convection is found to depend strongly on sample concentration, decreasing exponentially with mass fraction of colloidal particles. Moreover, at fixed concentration, it also depends slightly on the pattern selected by the Rayleigh Benard instability: more rolls maintain the convection state longer. This behavior can be interpreted with recent theoretical approaches of soft glassy material rheology.

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L. Bellon, L. Buisson, M. Ciccotti, S. Ciliberto and F. Douarche, Jamming, Yielding, and Irreversible Deformation in Condensed Matter, M.-C.Miguel and M. Rubi (Eds.), Springer Verlag, Lecture Notes in Physics 688 23-52 (2006)

doi: 10.1007/3-540-33204-9_3

In this lecture we review several aspects of the thermal noise properties in two aging materials: a polymer and a colloidal glass. The measurements have been performed after a quench for the polymer and during the transition from a fluid-like to a solid-like state for the gel. Two kind of noise has been measured: the electrical noise and the mechanical noise. For both materials we have observed that the electric noise is characterized by a strong intermittency, which induces a large violation of the Fluctuation Dissipation Theorem (FDT) during the aging time, and may persist for several hours at low frequency. The statistics of these intermittent signals and their dependance on the quench speed for the polymer or on sample concentration for the gel are studied. The results are in a qualitative agreement with recent models of aging, that predict an intermittent dynamics. For the mechanical noise the results are unclear. In the polymer the mechanical thermal noise is still intermittent whereas for the gel the violation of FDT, if it exists, is extremely small.

Proceedings of the XIX Sitges Conference on Jammming, Yielding and Irreversible Deformation in Condensed Matter, Sitges, Spain, 14-18 June 2004.

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M. Vial, L. Bellon and R. H. Hernandez, Experiments in Fluids 37 168-176 (2004)

doi: 10.1007/s00348-004-0796-0

We report experimental results of the forced wake of a thin symmetric flat plate, placed parallel to an uniform air stream, in the range of thickness-based Reynolds number 50< Re (e)<200. External wake forcing was introduced by small harmonic oscillations of a moving flap, placed at the trailing-edge of the flat plate. When the flap remains in a fixed horizontal position, the mean velocity profiles obtained by hot wire measurements, for different Reynolds numbers, are self similar. In the presence of harmonic forcing, within a certain range of the forcing frequency, the mean velocity profiles change and coherent structures are formed in the wake. Two independent flow-type resonances were observed: (i) when the inverse of the forcing frequency matches the flight time of the fluid particles along the flap. (ii) when the forcing frequency of the flap equals one half of the vortex shedding frequency of the flat plate and flap system. Implications of the two observed resonances on the wake structure are important. The first resonance (i) is associated to a wide but less intense (energy fluctuations) wake flow and the second resonance (ii) generates a thin but intense resultant wake flow.

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L. Buisson, L. Bellon and S. Ciliberto, Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter 15 S1163-S1179 (2003)

doi: 10.1088/0953-8984/15/11/336

The fluctuation-dissipation relation is measured on the dielectric properties of a gel (Laponite) and of a polymer glass (polycarbonate). For the gel it is found that during the transition from a fluid-like to a solid-like state the fluctuation-dissipation theorem is strongly violated. The amplitude and the persistence time of this violation are decreasing functions of frequency. Around 1 Hz it may persist for several hours. A very similar behaviour is observed in polycarbonate after a quench below the glass transition temperature. In both cases the origin of this violation is a highly intermittent dynamics characterized by large fluctuations. The relevance of these results for recent models of ageing is discussed.

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L. Bellon, L. Buisson, S. Ciliberto, F. Vittoz, Review of Scientific Instruments 73 3286-3290 (2002)

doi: 10.1063/1.1499210

In order to test the fluctuation-dissipation relation on rheological properties of soft materials, we built an experiment to measure thermally excited strain in a sample and compare it to the classical response to an external stress. The rheometer is based on a cylindrical Couette geometry. We use differential interferometry to achieve better than 1E-10 rad/root(Hz) sensitivity in angular position above 0.5 Hz. The forcing method, based on electrostatic interaction in a capacitor, generates torques comparable to that of thermal noise. Experiments on a calibrated silicon oil show good agreement between response and fluctuation measurements.

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