Analytical Study of the Thermal Induced Oscillations Known as Heartbeats

Abstract A laser beam traveling horizontally at a short distance below the free surface of an absorbing solution exhibits various oscillatory states (periodic, quasiperiodic, and chaotic) which depend on both the buoyancy (Archimedes force) and the thermal coefficient of the surface tension (Marangoni effect). The beam oscillations have been called “heartbeats.” In this work, the heartbeats were produced by pumping 1-(2-pyridylazo)-2-naphthol (PAN) solutions in silicone oil with an Ar+continuous-wave laser beam. The relationships between PAN concentration and the other parameters that control the oscillatory behavior were studied. The frequency of the oscillations sensitively varied with sm…