Related papers: Colloidal Particles at Chiral Liquid Crystal Inter…
We exploit the long-ranged elastic fields inherent to confined nematic liquid crystals to assemble colloidal particles trapped at the liquid crystal interface into reconfigurable structures with complex symmetries and packings. Spherical…
Computer modeling and simulations are performed to investigate capillary bridges spontaneously formed between closely packed colloidal particles in phase separating liquids. The simulations reveal a self-stabilization mechanism that…
A Landau theory is presented for the structural transition of electrically stabilized colloidal crystals under shear. The model suggests that a structural transition from an ordered layered colloidal crystal into a disordered structure…
Colloid-polymer mixtures can undergo spinodal decomposition into colloid-rich and colloid-poor regions. Gelation results when interconnected colloid-rich regions solidify. We show that this occurs when these regions undergo a glass…
We study the phase ordering colloids suspended in a thermotropic nematic liquid crystal below the clearing point Tni and the resulting aggregated structure. Small (150nm) PMMA particles are dispersed in a classical liquid crystal matrix,…
We show in simulations that a rich variety of novel orderings such as pinwheel and star states can be realized for colloidal molecular crystal mixtures at rational ratios of the number of colloids to the number of minima from an underlying…
We investigate the initiation of cracks in vertically freestanding water-saturated colloidal pillars constructed using a direct-write technique. Paradoxically, the cracks form during drying at the free end, far from the substrate, where the…
A characteristic property of many soft matter systems is an ultrasoft effective interaction between their structural units. This softness often leads to complex behavior. In particular, ultrasoft systems under pressure demonstrate…
We numerically study two-component capillary bridges formed when a liquid droplet is placed in between two liquid infused surfaces (LIS). In contrast to commonly studied one-component capillary bridges on non-infused solid surfaces,…
We report the first clear demonstration of drag on colloidal particles by a moving nematic-isotropic interface. The balance of forces explains our observation of periodic, strip-like structures that are produced by the movement of these…
Hypothesis: The collective dynamics and self-assembly of colloids floating at a fluid/fluid interface is a balance between deterministic lateral interaction forces, viscous resistance to colloid motion along the surface and thermal…
We study the effective chiral interaction between molecules arising from quantum dispersion interactions within a model in which a) the dominant excited states of a molecule form a band whose width is small compared to the average…
Colloidal membranes, self assembled monolayers of aligned rod like molecules, offer a template for designing membranes with definite shapes and curvature, and possibly new functionalities in the future. Often the constituent rods, due to…
The effective potential between charged colloids trapped at water interfaces is analyzed. It consists of a repulsive electrostatic and an attractive capillary part which asymptotically both show dipole--like behavior. For sufficiently large…
We give a topological classification of defect lines in cholesteric liquid crystals using methods from contact topology. By focusing on the role played by the chirality of the material, we demonstrate a fundamental distinction between…
We studied the phase behavior of charged and sterically stabilized colloids using confocal microscopy in a less polar solvent (dielectric constant 5.4). Upon increasing the colloid volume fraction we found a transition from a fluid to a…
It has been recently shown that a colloidal monolayer, e.g., formed at a fluid interface or by means of a suitable confining potential, exhibits anomalous collective diffusion. This is a consequence of the hydrodynamic interactions mediated…
When a drop containing colloidal particles evaporates on a surface, a circular stain made of these particles is often observed due to an internal flow toward the contact line. To hinder this effect, several approaches have been proposed…
We theoretically and experimentally investigate colloid-oil-water-interface interactions of charged, sterically stabilized, poly(methyl-methacrylate) colloidal particles dispersed in a low-polar oil (dielectric constant $\epsilon=5-10$)…
Particle shape and medium chirality are two key features recently used to control anisotropic colloidal self-assembly and dynamics in liquid crystals. Here, we study magnetically responsive gourd-shaped colloidal particles dispersed in…