Decreased Surface Tension of Water by Hard-X-Ray Irradiation

B. M. Weon, J. H. Je, Y. Hwu, and G. Margaritondo

Phys. Rev. Lett. 100, 217403 – Published 29 May 2008

Abstract

We discovered that intense irradiation by hard-x-ray strongly decreases the effects of natural surface tension of water in droplets and capillary tubes. The effect was revealed by direct experimental observations with phase contrast microradiology. A model based on ionization and surface charging explains this so far undetected phenomenon. The effect can impact the results of many experimental techniques based on x rays. This is an example of the largely unexplored effects that can be produced by extreme intense x-ray irradiation—an important issue due to current development of x-ray free-electron-lasers with unprecedented brilliance.

Received 4 November 2007

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.100.217403

Authors & Affiliations

B. M. Weon¹, J. H. Je^1,*, Y. Hwu², and G. Margaritondo³

¹X-ray Imaging Center, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Pohang University of Science and Technology, Pohang, 790-784, Korea
²Institute of Physics, Academia Sinica, Nankang, Taipei 11529, Taiwan
³Ecole Polytechnique Fádárale de Lausanne (EPFL), CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland

^*To whom all correspondence should be addressed. jhje@postech.ac.kr

Comments & Replies

Weon et al. Reply:

B. M. Weon, J. H. Je, Y. Hwu, and G. Margaritondo

Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 179702 (2009)

Comment on “Decreased Surface Tension of Water by Hard-X-Ray Irradiation”

Byoung Jip Yoon

Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 179701 (2009)

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Vol. 100, Iss. 21 — 30 May 2008

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