Related papers: Magnetically powered metachronal waves induce loco…
In the absence of inertia, a reciprocal swimmer achieves no net motion in a viscous Newtonian fluid. Here, we investigate the ability of a reciprocally actuated particle to translate through a complex fluid that possesses a network using…
We study a simple two-dimensional model for motion of an elastic filament subject to internally generated stresses and show that wave-like propagating shapes which can propel the filament can be induced by a self-organized mechanism via a…
Understanding the collective actuation of microscopic structures driven by external fields can lead to the development of next-generation autonomous machines. With this goal in mind, we investigated light-induced collective motion of…
Three-dimensional simulations with fully resolved hydrodynamics are performed to study the collective motion of model swimmers in confinement. We show that certain swimming mechanisms can lead to traveling wave-like collective motion even…
Microrobots have the potential to impact many areas such as microsurgery, micromanipulation and minimally invasive sensing. Due to their small size, microrobots swim in a regime that is governed by low Reynolds number hydrodynamics. In this…
Ciliated microswimmers and flagellated bacteria alter their swimming trajectories to follow the direction of an applied electric field exhibiting electrotaxis. Both for matters of application and physical modelling, it is instructive to…
Phototaxis is a light driven self-locomotion of mass and a common phenomenon in motile organisms with varieties of motility such as in bacteria, algae, etc. In naturally occurring organisms, mechanical force is generated utilising their…
The fluid theory of plasmas is extended to include the properties of electron spin. The linear theory of waves in a magnetized plasma is presented, and it is shown that the spin effects causes a change of the magnetic permeability.…
In the presence of a magnetic field applied perpendicular to a thin sample layer, a suspension of magnetic colloidal particles (ferrofluid) can form spatially modulated phases with a characteristic length determined by the competition…
The diffusion of active microscopic organisms in complex environments plays an important role in a wide range of biological phenomena from cell colony growth to single organism transport. Here, we investigate theoretically and…
Groups of eukaryotic cilia and flagella are capable of coordinating their beating over large scales, routinely exhibiting collective dynamics in the form of metachronal waves. The origin of this behaviour -- possibly influenced by both…
Many fascinating phenomena such as large-scale collective flows, enhanced fluid mixing and pattern formation have been observed in so-called active fluids, which are composed of particles that can absorb energy and dissipate it into the…
We introduce a new technique for the generation of magnetic impulses. This technique is based on coherent control of electrical currents using cylindrical laser beams with azimuthal polarization. When used to ionize a medium, in this case…
The secular variation of the geomagnetic field suggests that there are anticyclonic polar vortices in the Earth's core. Under the influence of a magnetic field, the polar azimuthal flow is thought to be produced by one or more coherent…
We study how dispersions of colloidal particles in a cholesteric liquid crystal behave under a time-dependent electric field. By controlling the amplitude and shape of the applied field wave, we show that the system can be reproducibly…
It is usually believed that the geo-dynamo of the Earth or more generally of other planets, is created by the convective fluid motions inside their molten cores. An alternative to this thermal or compositional convection can however be…
Interfacial waves arising in a two-phase swirling flow driven by a low-frequency rotating magnetic field (RMF) are studied. At low RMF frequencies, of the order of 1-10 Hz, the oscillatory part of the induced Lorenz force becomes comparable…
Large-scale planetary or stellar magnetic fields generated by a dynamo effect are mostly attributed to flows forced by buoyancy forces in electrically conducting fluid layers. However, these large-scale fields may also be controlled by…
Micromotors pushed by biological entities, like motile bacteria, constitute a fascinating way to convert chemical energy into mechanical work at the micrometer scale. Here we show, by using numerical simulations, that a properly designed…
Synthetic microswimmers mimicking biological movements at the microscale have been developed in recent years. Actuating helical magnetic materials with a homogeneous rotating magnetic field is one of the most widespread techniques for…