Pattern formation in colloidal explosions
Abstract
We study the non-equilibrium pattern formation that emerges when magnetically repelling colloids, trapped by optical tweezers, are abruptly released, forming colloidal explosions. For multiple colloids in a single trap we observe a pattern of expanding concentric rings. For colloids individually trapped in a line, we observe explosions with a zigzag pattern that persists even when magnetic interactions are much weaker than those that break the linear symmetry in equilibrium. Theory and computer simulations quantitatively describe these phenomena both in and out of equilibrium. An analysis of the mode spectrum allows us to accurately quantify the non-harmonic nature of the optical traps. Colloidal explosions provide a new way to generate well-characterized non-equilibrium behaviour in colloidal systems.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1009.1930,
title = {Pattern formation in colloidal explosions},
author = {Arthur V. Straube and Ard A. Louis and Jörg Baumgartl and Clemens Bechinger and Roel P. A. Dullens},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1009.1930},
year = {2011}
}
Comments
New restructured version (supplementary material goes into main text, no change of content), added journal reference and DOI information; 6 pages, 6 figures, published in Europhysics Letters (EPL)