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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,…
Colloids self-assemble into various organized superstructures determined by particle interactions. There is a tremendous progress in both the scientific understanding and applications of self-assemblies of single-type identical particles.…
We investigate the directional locking effects that arise when a monolayer of paramagnetic colloidal particles is driven across a triangular lattice of magnetic bubbles. We use an external rotating magnetic field to generate a two…
A new concept of permanent magnet systems for guiding superparamagnetic particles on arbitrary trajectories is proposed. The basic concept is to use one magnet system with a strong and homogeneous (dipolar) magnetic field to magnetize and…
We theoretically study the motion of magnetic colloidal particles above a magnetic pattern and compare the predictions with Brownian dynamics simulations. The pattern consists of alternating square domains of positive and negative…
We demonstrate a novel method to assemble and transport swarms of colloidal particles by combining liquid crystals enabled electrophoresis and photo-sensitive surface patterning. Colloidal particles are propelled in a nematic liquid crystal…
With an eye towards next-generation, smart, micro/nanofluidic devices, capable of responding to external stimuli or changes in environment, we demonstrate a means to achieve dynamic control of the spatio-temporal properties of the electric…
Small objects floating on a fluid have a tendency to aggregate due to capillary forces. This effect has been used, with the help of a magnetic induction field, to assemble submillimeter metallic spheres into a variety of structures, whose…
Manipulating the way in which colloidal particles self-organise is a central challenge in the design of functional soft materials. Meeting this challenge requires the use of building blocks that interact with one another in a highly…
Periodic driving of particles can create crystalline structures in their dynamics. Such systems can be used to study solid-state physics phenomena in the time domain. In addition, it is possible to realize photonic time crystals and to…
Controlling the flow of matter down to micrometer-scale confinement is of central importance in materials and environmental sciences, with direct applications in nano-microfluidics, drug delivery and biothechnology. Currents of…
The kinetics of phase transition processes often governs the resulting material microstruc-ture. Using optical microscopy, we here investigate the formation and stabilization of a po-rous crystalline microstructure forming in low-salt…
The ability to dictate colloid motion is an important challenge in fields ranging from materials science to living systems. Here, by embedding energy landscapes in confined nematic liquid crystals, we design a versatile platform to define…
Cloaking is a method of making obstacles undetectable. Here we cloak unit cells of a magnetic pattern squeezed into an otherwise periodic pattern from a magnetically driven colloidal flow. We apply a time-periodic external magnetic field…
Observational data require a rich variety of mechanisms to accelerate fast particles in astrophysical environments operating under different conditions. The mechanisms discussed in the literature include varying magnetic fields in compact…
Single and double paramagnetic colloidal particles are placed above a magnetic square pattern and are driven with an external magnetic field precessing around a high symmetry direction of the pattern. The external magnetic field and that of…
Colloidal systems find important applications ranging from fabrication of photonic crystals to direct probing of phenomena typically encountered in atomic crystals and glasses. New applications - such as nanoantennas, plasmonic sensors, and…
Using molecular dynamics simulations, we study particle-transport in a system of interacting colloidal particles on a ring, where the system is driven by a time-dependent external potential, moving along the ring. We consider two driving…
The ability to assemble mesoscopic colloidal lattices above a surface is important for fundamental studies related with nucleation and crystallization, but also for a variety of technological applications in photonics and micro-engineering.…
The performance of nanoscale magnetic devices is often limited by the presence of thermal fluctuations, while in micro-nanofluidic applications the same fluctuations may be used to spread reactants or drugs. Here we demonstrate the…