Related papers: Controlled Optofluidic Crystallization of Colloids…
We present simulation results addressing the phenomena of colloidal gelation induced by attractive interactions. The liquid-gas transition is prevented by the glass arrest at high enough attraction strength, resulting in a colloidal gel.…
Our Society is in high need of alternatives to fossil fuels. Nanoporous systems filled with aqueous electrolytes show great promises for harvesting the osmotic energy of sea water or waste heat. At the core of energy conversion in such…
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…
Crystallization is abound in nature and industrial practice. A plethora of indispensable products ranging from agrochemicals and pharmaceuticals to battery materials, are produced in crystalline form in industrial practice. Yet, our control…
Photoinduced ultrafast phenomena in materials exhibiting nonequilibrium behavior can lead to the emergence of exotic phases beyond the limits of thermodynamics, presenting opportunities for femtosecond photoexcitation. Despite extensive…
Optical excitation of colloids can be harnessed to realize soft matter systems that are out of equilibrium. In this paper, we present our experimental studies on the dynamics of silica colloids in the vicinity of a silver nanowire…
Numerical heat and mass transfer analysis of a configuration where a cool liquid hydrocarbon is suddenly introduced to a hotter gas at supercritical pressure shows that a well-defined phase equilibrium can be established before substantial…
Recent experiments performed on a variety of soft glassy materials have demonstrated that any imposed shear flow serves to simultaneously fluidize these systems in all spatial directions [Ovarlez \textit{et al.} (2010)]. When probed with a…
The adsorption of single colloidal microparticles (0.5--1 $\mu$m radius) at a water-oil interface has been recently studied experimentally using digital holographic microscopy [Kaz \textit{et al., Nat. Mater.}, 2012, \textbf{11}, 138--142].…
The critical Casimir effect provides a thermodynamic analogue of the well-known quantum mechanical Casimir effect. It acts between two surfaces immersed in a critical binary liquid mixture, and results from the confinement of concentration…
We study the assembly of colloids in a two phase water-water system that provides an environment that can sustain bacteria, providing a new structure with rich potential to confine and structure living colloids. The water-water system,…
A novel method to pump fluid in lab on chip devices with velocities up to tens of micrometer per second is introduced. A focused laser beam locally heats up an electrolyte. A net charge tends to accumulate in the heat-absorbing area, due to…
This chapter discusses a hydrodynamics-inspired approach to trap and manipulate light in plasmonic nanostructures, which is based on steering optical powerflow around nano-obstacles. New insights into plasmonic nanofocusing mechanisms are…
Arrays of optically trapped nanoparticles have emerged as a promising platform for the study of complex non-equilibrium phenomena. Analogous to atomic many-body systems, one of the crucial ingredients is the ability to precisely control the…
Random lasers are highly configurable light sources that are promising for imaging and photonic integration. In this study, random lasing action was generated by optically pumping MBBA liquid crystals infiltrated with gold nanoparticles and…
We experimentally observed optical precursors in optically pumped crystals using polarization-based interference. By switching the user-programmable medium among the fast light, slow light and no-dispersion regimes, we observed an unchanged…
An all-optically driven strategy to govern a liquid crystalline collective molecular nonlinear oscillator is discussed. It does not require external feedbacks of any kind while the oscillator and a time-depending perturbation both are…
Deposition of particles while flowing past constrictions is a ubiquitous phenomenon observed in diverse systems. Some common examples are jamming of salt crystals near the orifice of saltshakers, clogging of filter systems, gridlock in…
Interface localization-delocalization transitions (ILDT) occur in two-phase fluids confined in a slit with competing preferences of the walls for the two fluid phases. At low temperatures the interface between the two phases is localized at…
The optical properties of liquid crystals serve as the basis for display, diagnostic, and sensing technologies. Such properties are generally controlled by relying on electric fields. In this work, we investigate the effects of microfluidic…