(1) Nanoelectronics Laboratory, Graduate School of Engineering, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060, Japan, JP;(2) School of Dental Medicine, Tsurumi University, Tsurumi, Yokohama 230, Japan, JP
Abstract:
We have observed a remarkable two-armed spiral in the collapse process of a floating monolayer at the air-water interface
by phase contrast microscopy. This demonstrates that the floating monolayer as a form of soft condensed matter reorganizes
itself due to a certain kind of macroscopic or collective behavior of molecules as it collapses. This pattern formation is
caused by the breakdown of a critical dynamical balance between the deformation of solid domain and the applied surface pressure.
The fragility as well as the flexibility of the floating monolayer can be associated with the observed pattern growth. There
are also observed interesting, periodically arranged collections of molecules in numerous collapsed regions.
Received: 8 July 1997 / Accepted: 4 November 1997