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Observation of thickness quantization in liquid films confined to molecular dimension

O. H. Seeck1,2, Hyunjung Kim2,3, D. R. Lee2, D. Shu2, I. D. Kaendler2, J. K. Basu4 and S. K. Sinha2,3

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Liquid octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane (OMCTS) films have been prepared between two flat silicon substrates with varying nanometer-sized gaps which correspond to two to three molecular diameters of OMCTS. These extremely confined liquid films have been investigated using X-ray scattering methods as a function of applied pressure, in particular by observing the specular reflectivity and the diffuse scattering. For the first time, scattering methods show that the gap size cannot be changed continuously with changing pressure. Instead, the gap is quantized due to ordering effects of the OMCTS molecules. The use of scattering methods has enormous future implications as they allow very detailed investigations of confined liquids at a molecular level.


PACS

61.20.Ne Structure of simple liquids

61.05.cm X-ray reflectometry (surfaces, interfaces, films)

61.20.Gy Theory and models of liquid structure

Subjects

Soft matter, liquids and polymers

Dates

Issue 3 (November 2002)

Received 24 January 2002, accepted for publication 13 August 2002, in final form 13 August 2002



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