We discuss the hydrodynamic modes of a thin viscoelastic film of polymeric material at the interface between two Newtonian fluids. The mode dispersion relations and the dynamic structure factor of thermally induced (transverse) modes are obtained by the method of fluctuating hydrodynamics utilizing generalized boundary conditions derived for a thin viscoelastic interface. Specific examples appropriate to liquidlike films of entangled polymers are presented, and possible relevance to existing experimental studies of dynamic light scattering from insoluble polymeric monolayers is discussed.

• Received 12 August 1993

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.49.1411