Wave propelled ratchets and drifting rafts

Several droplets, bouncing on a vertically vibrated liquid bath, can form various types of bound states, their interaction being due to the waves emitted by their bouncing. Though they associate droplets which are individually motionless, we show that these bound states are self-propelled when the droplets are of uneven size. The driving force is linked to the assymetry of the emitted surface waves. The direction of this ratchet-like displacement can be reversed, by varying the amplitude of forcing. This direction reversal occurs when the bouncing of one of the drops becomes sub-harmonic. As a generalization, a larger number of bouncing droplets form crystalline rafts which are also shown to drift or rotate when assymetrical. Copyright (C) EPLA, 2008.