Laser Actuation of Walking Droplets

In this talk, we discuss the implementation of using a pulsed infrared laser to actuate surface waves in the walking droplet experiment. We use Fourier demodulation synthetic schlieren imaging to measure the distortions induced by the laser on the oil's surface and show that these can approximate the impact of a bouncing droplet. We then discuss methods to control the behavior of the droplets on the surface in a repeatable and predictable fashion and show that the laser can be used to precisely position droplets.