Vibrations of a diamagnetically levitated water droplet

摘要

We measure the frequencies of small-amplitude shape oscillations of amagnetically-levitated water droplet. The droplet levitates in amagnetogravitational potential trap. The restoring forces of the trap, actingon the droplet's surface in addition to the surface tension, increase thefrequency of the oscillations. We derive the eigenfrequencies of the normalmode vibrations of a spherical droplet in the trap and compare them with ourexperimental measurements. We also consider the effect of the shape of thepotential trap on the eigenfrequencies.