Related papers: Critical Casimir forces in soft matter
In a recent Letter [Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 156101 (2009)], we presented experiments on critical Casimir induced colloidal aggregation in a system with negligibly small van der Waals forces. We presented a simple model based on a competition…
If two ore more bodies are immersed in a critical fluid critical fluctuations of the order parameter generate long ranged forces between these bodies. Due to the underlying mechanism these forces are close analogues of the well known…
We develop a computational study of Casimir forces between three dimensional (3D) finite objects with an internal granular structure. The objects in the model consist of a finite arrangement of nanometer sized spherical particles having a…
We report a numerical investigation of two colloids immersed in a critical solvent, with the aim of quantifying the effective colloid-colloid interaction potential. By turning on an attraction between the colloid and the solvent particles…
Casimir forces in quantum electrodynamics emerge between microscopic metallic objects because of the confinement of the vacuum electromagnetic fluctuations occurring even at zero temperature. Their generalization at finite temperature and…
We investigate the phase behaviour of mixtures of two populations of colloidal particles dispersed in a binary solvent system near its critical composition. The surfaces of particles are chemically modified to elicit a specific solvent…
Soft materials, such as colloidal suspensions, polymer solutions, and biological systems, are typically multicomponent mixtures of macromolecules and simpler components (e.g., microions, monomers, solvent) that can assemble into complex…
The manipulation of microscopic objects requires precise and controllable forces and torques. Recent advances have led to the use of critical Casimir forces as a powerful tool, which can be finely tuned through the temperature of the…
We study the phase behavior of colloidal suspensions the solvents of which are considered to be binary liquid mixtures undergoing phase segregation. We focus on the thermodynamic region close to the critical point of the accompanying…
Some time ago, Fisher and de Gennes pointed out that long-ranged correlations in a fluid close to its critical point Tc cause distinct forces between immersed colloidal particles which can even lead to flocculation [C. R. Acad. Sc. Paris B…
The spatial suppression of order parameter fluctuations in a critical media produces Critical Casimir forces acting on confining surfaces. This scenario is realized in a critical binary mixture near the demixing transition point that…
We study the normal and lateral effective critical Casimir forces acting on a spherical colloid immersed in a critical binary solvent and close to a chemically structured substrate with alternating adsorption preference. We calculate the…
We study the behavior of the critical Casimir force and its interplay with the van der Waals force acting between two parallel slabs separated at a distance $L$ from each other confining a non-polar simple fluid or a binary liquid mixture.…
Using quasi-exact numerical density-matrix renormalization-group techniques we calculate the critical Casimir force for a two-dimensional (2D) Ising strip with equal strong surface fields, along the thermodynamic paths corresponding to the…
We review modern achievements and problems in physics of the van der Waals and Casimir forces which arise due to zero-point and thermal fluctuations of the electromagnetic field between closely spaced material surfaces. This subject…
For more than 35 years theorists have studied quantum or Casimir friction, which occurs when two smooth bodies move transversely to each other, experiencing a frictional dissipative force due to quantum electromagnetic fluctuations, which…
A novel approach for calculating Casimir forces between periodically deformed objects is developed. This approach allows, for the first time, a rigorous non-perturbative treatment of the Casimir effect for disconnected objects beyond…
From experimental studies it is well-known that colloidal particles suspended in a near-critical binary solvent exhibit interesting aggregation phenomena, often associated with colloidal phase transitions, and assumed to be driven by…
In any medium there are fluctuations due to temperature or due to the quantum nature of its constituents. If a material body is immersed into such a medium, its shape and the properties of its constituents modify the properties of the…
If a fluctuating medium is confined, the ensuing perturbation of its fluctuation spectrum generates Casimir-like effective forces acting on its confining surfaces. Near a continuous phase transition of such a medium the corresponding order…