Probing microscopic wetting properties of superhydrophobic surfaces by vibrated micrometer-sized droplets

Abstract

We determine contact angles of micrometer-sized NaCl-water droplets on superhydrophobic surfaces by analyzing their lowest-order axisymmetric vibrational resonances driven by vertical oscillations of the surface. Fluorescence spectra of the dye-doped droplets excited by laser light feature whisperinggallery modes (WGMs) whose spectral widths depend on the droplet vibration amplitude, thus enabling precise measurements of the droplet mechanical resonant frequency. Following droplet size determination byWGM mode-matching, we calculate the contact angles from the dependence of the measured mechanical resonant frequency on the droplet size for two surfaces with different superhydrophobicity levels, and find a good correlation with the values measured by direct imaging of millimeter-sized droplets.