Stability of a viscous liquid microjet in DC and AC electric fields

The problem of the stability of a liquid electrolyte jet under the action of a tangential electric field is considered. The radii of these jets, usually observable in experiments, vary from nanoscales to microscales. In this study, we consider microjets with the characteristic thickness of the double ion layer near the interface much less than the jet radius. The stability problem is analytically solved with account for the presence of this small parameter. The assumption on the electric neutrality of the jet as a whole leads to an explicit expression for the surface electric charge induced by the external field. The solution of the hydrodynamic problem in the external domain closes the solution and gives the dependence of the disturbance growth rate on the wavenumber. The cases of DC and AC electric fields are qualitatively compared. The distinctive features of jet stabilization by an AC high-frequency electric field are discussed.