Related papers: Controlling colloidal phase transitions with criti…
Quantum fluctuations give rise to van der Waals and Casimir forces that dominate the interaction between electrically neutral objects at sub-micron separations. Under the trend of miniaturization, such quantum electrodynamical effects are…
Recently there is strong experimental and theoretical interest in studying the self-assembly and the phase behavior of patchy and of Janus particles, which form colloidal suspensions. Although in this quest a variety of effective…
Within mean field theory, we investigate the bridging transition between a pair of parallel cylindrical colloids immersed in a binary liquid mixture as a solvent which is close to its critical consolute point $T_c$. We determine the…
We calculate the effective force mediated by thermally excited capillary waves between spherical or disklike colloids trapped at a fluid interface. This Casimir type interaction is shown to depend sensitively on the boundary conditions…
Colloids immersed in a critical or near-critical binary liquid mixture and close to a chemically patterned substrate are subject to normal and lateral critical Casimir forces of dominating strength. For a single colloid we calculate these…
Recent experiments have demonstrated a fluctuation-induced lateral trapping of spherical colloidal particles immersed in a binary liquid mixture near its critical demixing point and exposed to chemically patterned substrates. Inspired by…
If two ore more bodies are immersed in a critical fluid critical fluctuations of the order parameter generate long ranged forces between these bodies. Due to the underlying mechanism these forces are close analogues of the well known…
Within mean-field theory we calculate universal scaling functions associated with critical Casimir forces for a system consisting of three parallel cylindrical colloids immersed in a near-critical binary liquid mixture. For several…
The spatial suppression of order parameter fluctuations in a critical media produces Critical Casimir forces acting on confining surfaces. This scenario is realized in a critical binary mixture near the demixing transition point that…
Some time ago, Fisher and de Gennes pointed out that long-ranged correlations in a fluid close to its critical point Tc cause distinct forces between immersed colloidal particles which can even lead to flocculation [C. R. Acad. Sc. Paris B…
Casimir forces in quantum electrodynamics emerge between microscopic metallic objects because of the confinement of the vacuum electromagnetic fluctuations occurring even at zero temperature. Their generalization at finite temperature and…
Critical Casimir forces emerge among particles or surfaces immersed in a near-critical fluid, with the sign of the force determined by surface properties and with its strength tunable by minute temperature changes. Here, we show how such…
Mesoscopic particles immersed in a critical fluid experience long-range Casimir forces due to critical fluctuations. Using field theoretical methods, we investigate the Casimir interaction between two spherical particles and between a…
The mapping between a classical length and inverse temperature as imaginary time provides a direct equivalence between the Casimir force of a classical system in $D$ dimensions and internal energy of a quantum system in $d$$=$$D$$-$$1$…
We study the critical Casimir interaction between two spherical colloids immersed in a binary liquid mixture close to its critical demixing point. The surface of each colloid prefers one species of the mixture with the exception of a…
We argue that in a fluid, or magnet, confined by adsorbing walls which favour liquid, or (+) phase, the solvation (Casimir) force in the vicinity of the critical point is strongly influenced by capillary condensation which occurs below the…
Casimir forces, related to London-van der Waals forces, arise if the spectrum of electromagnetic fluctuations is restricted by boundaries. There is great interest both from fundamental science and technical applications to control these…
We study the fluctuation-induced Casimir interactions in colloidal suspensions, especially between colloids immersed in a binary liquid close to its critical demixing point. To simulate these systems, we present a highly efficient cluster…
The confinement of long-ranged critical fluctuations in the vicinity of second-order phase transitions in fluids generates critical Casimir forces acting on confining surfaces or among particles immersed in a critical solvent. This is…
We report a numerical investigation of two colloids immersed in a critical solvent, with the aim of quantifying the effective colloid-colloid interaction potential. By turning on an attraction between the colloid and the solvent particles…