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Published on: September 30, 2014
Evolution of avalanche conducting states in electrorheological liquids
A Bezryadin1, R M Westervelt, M Tinkham
1Department of Physics, Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
Abstract:
Charge transport in electrorheological fluids is studied experimentally under strongly nonequilibrium conditions. By injecting an electrical current into a suspension of conducting nanoparticles we are able to initiate a process of self-organization which leads, in certain cases, to formation of a stable pattern which consists of continuous conducting chains of particles. The evolution of the dissipative state in such a system is a complex process. It starts as an avalanche process characterized by nucleation, growth, and thermal destruction of such dissipative elements as continuous conducting chains of particles as well as electroconvective vortices. A power-law distribution of avalanche sizes and durations, observed at this stage of the evolution, indicates that the system is in a self-organized critical state. A sharp transition into an avalanche-free state with a stable pattern of conducting chains is observed when the power dissipated in the fluid reaches its maximum. We propose a simple evolution model which obeys the maximum power condition and also shows a power-law distribution of the avalanche sizes.
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