WETTING ON ROUGH SELF-AFFINE SURFACES

In this paper, we present a general investigation of the effective potential for complete wetting on self-affine rough surfaces. The roughness effect is investigated by means of the height-height correlation model in Fourier space ∼(1+aξ2q2)-1-H. The parameters H and ξ are, respectively, the roughness exponent and the substrate in-plane correlation length. It is observed that the effect of H on the free interface profile is significant for ξ<Y (Y is a ''healing'' length), and becomes negligible for wetting-layer thickness larger than a characteristic thickness τ∼ξu for long-range substrate forces. Finally, the large Y (Yξ) regime is characterized by a power-law scaling ∼Y-2. © 1995 The American Physical Society.