This essay describes the current state of research into micrometre-scale liquid droplets in an ionised gas, usually referred to as a plasma. Such systems are a common occurrence in industrial processes, but have received little interest until recently. Electrostatic breakup is a significant mechanism for disrupting these droplets, but the effect of many plasma parameters on this mechanism has n...

Orientation distributions in droplets of liquid crystals with homeotropic anchoring are computed with a simulated annealing algorithm that minimizes the free energy of the Oseen-Frank continuum theory. The droplets exhibit multiple orientational steady states that are separated by finite energy barriers over the entire range of the dimensionless ratio of surface to elastic forces, with maximum ...

We have investigated the formation of helium droplets in two physical situations. In the first one, droplets are atomised from superfluid or normal liquid by a fast helium vapour flow. In the second, droplets of normal liquid are formed inside porous glasses during the process of helium condensation. The context, aims, and results of these experiments are reviewed, with focus on the specificity...

Living cells contain numerous membrane-less RNA/protein (RNP) bodies that assemble by intracellular liquid-liquid phase separation. The properties of these condensed phase droplets are increasingly recognized as important in their physiological function within living cells, and also through the link to protein aggregation pathologies. However, techniques such as droplet coalescence analysis or ...

We investigate both theoretically and experimentally the rotational dynamics of micrometric droplets of dye-doped and pure liquid crystal induced by circularly and elliptically polarized laser light. The droplets are dispersed in water and trapped in the focus of the laser beam. Since the optical torque acting on the molecular director is known to be strongly enhanced in light-absorbing dye-dop...

We investigated the fusion of high-speed liquid droplets as a way to record the kinetics of liquid-phase chemical reactions on the order of microseconds. Two streams of micrometer-size droplets collide with one another. The droplets that fused (13 μm in diameter) at the intersection of the two streams entered the heated capillary inlet of a mass spectrometer. The mass spectrum was recorded as a...

Nanoparticles adsorbed at the interface of nematic liquid crystals are known to form ordered structures whose morphology depends on the orientation of the underlying nematic field. The origin of such structures is believed to result from an interplay between the liquid crystal orientation at the particles' surface, the orientation at the liquid crystal's air interface, and the bulk elasticity o...

Incorporation of dichroic dyes substantially improves the contrast of polymer dispersed liquid-crystal (PDLC) shutters. The efficiency of dichroic dyes in a PDLC shutter depends on the scattering efficiency of the film, the dichroic ratio of the dye, the order parameter of the dye in the liquid crystal, and the fraction of dye dissolved in the droplets. Ultraviolet/visible spectroscopy can be e...

Using atomic force microscopy in noncontact mode, we have imaged nanometer-size liquid droplets of KOH water solutions on the surfaces of highly oriented pyrolitic graphite and mica. On graphite the droplets prefer to be adsorbed on atomic step edges. Droplets on the same step tend to be evenly spaced and of similar size. The droplets can be manipulated by the atomic force microscopy tip allowi...

Elemental mercury (Hg0) can be found in liquid or dissolved forms in aquatic systems. Whereas dissolved Hg0 is measured in virtually all aquatic systems, liquid Hg0 droplets are mainly observed at poorly lit sediment/water interfaces of ecosystems with local point sources such as hydro-thermal vents, gold extraction sites, and near industrial facilities. Here, we report that, in the dark, liqui...