Related papers: Reconfigurable assembly of nematic colloids comman…
Physically intelligent micro-robotic systems exploit information embedded in micro-robots, their colloidal cargo, and their milieu to interact, assemble and form functional structures. Nonlinear anisotropic fluids like nematic liquid…
Self-propelled colloidal particles exhibit rich non-equilibrium phenomena and have promising applications in fields such as drug delivery and self-assembled active materials. Previous experimental and theoretical studies have shown that…
Surface alignment of a recently discovered ferroelectric nematic liquid crystal (NF) is usually achieved by buffed polymer films, which produce a unidirectional polar alignment of the spontaneous electric polarization. We demonstrate that…
Surface-driven flows are ubiquitous in nature, from subcellular cytoplasmic streaming to organ-scale ciliary arrays. Here, we model how confined geometries can be used to engineer complex hydrodynamic patterns driven by activity prescribed…
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…
Dynamics of small particles, both living such as swimming bacteria and inanimate, such as colloidal spheres, has fascinated scientists for centuries. If one could learn how to control and streamline their chaotic motion, that would open…
Self-assembly is the autonomous organization of components into patterns or structures: an essential ingredient of biology and a desired route to complex organization. At equilibrium, the structure is encoded through specific interactions,…
Selective configuration control of plasmonic nanostructures using either top-down or bottom-up approaches has remained challenging in the field of active plasmonics. We demonstrate the realization of DNA-assembled reconfigurable plasmonic…
Plasmonic nanoparticles (NPs) integrated within thermoresponsive polymeric microgels provide a versatile platform for the realization of stimuli-responsive optical materials, where the microgel volume phase transition enables dynamic…
Building structures with hierarchical order through the self-assembly of smaller blocks is not only a prerogative of nature, but also a strategy to design artificial materials with tailored functions. We explore in simulation the…
Photonic metasurfaces are ultrathin electromagnetic wave-molding metamaterials providing the missing link for the integration of nanophotonic chips with nanoelectronic circuits. An extra twist in this field originates from spin-optical…
Colloidal particles dispersed in liquid crystals can form new materials with tunable elastic and electro-optic properties. In a periodic `blue phase' host, particles should template into colloidal crystals with potential uses in photonics,…
The advances in fabrication processes in different material platforms employed in integrated optics are opening the path towards the implementation of circuits with increasing degree of complexity. In addition to the more conventional…
Machines enabled the Industrial Revolution and are central to modern technological progress: A machine's parts transmit forces, motion, and energy to one another in a predetermined manner. Today's engineering frontier, building artificial…
Surface plasmon resonances generated in metallic nanostructures can be utilized to tailor electromagnetic fields. The precise spatial arrangement of such structures can result in surprising optical properties that are not found in any…
Studies of nanoparticle-based optical matter have only considered spherical constituents. Yet nanoparticles with other shapes are expected to have different local electromagnetic field distributions and therefore interactions with neighbors…
Just like atoms combine into molecules, colloids can self-organize into predetermined structures according to a set of design principles. Controlling valence -- the number of inter-particle bonds -- is a prerequisite for the assembly of…
Non-monotonic retention profiles (NRP) have been observed in numerous studies of colloidal-nano flows in porous media. For the first time, we explain the phenomenon by distributed particle properties (size, shape, surface charge). We…
We present the state-of-the-art theoretical modeling, molecular simulation, and coarse-graining strategies for the transport of gases and liquids in nanoporous materials (pore size 1-100 nm). Special emphasis is placed on the transport of…
Responsiveness to multiple stimuli and adaptivity are paramount for designing smart multifunctional materials. In soft, partially ordered systems, these features can often be achieved via self-assembly, allowing for the combination of…