Formation of a Dense Branching Morphology in Interfacial Growth

Abstract

We present experimental evidence of a distinct dense branching morphology as a fundamental pattern for diffusion-controlled interfacial growth. The dense branching morphology is characterized by its circular envelope modulated by leading branch tips. The development of this pattern in two dimensions is studied in a Hele-Shaw cell and in amorphous annealing. We find agreement between the Hele-Shaw experiment and a linear stability analysis including a kinetic term.