Related papers: Tuning pair interactions in colloidal systems usin…
We propose a method to generate pure many-body interactions in colloidal systems by using optical forces induced by random optical fields with an optimized spectral energy density. To assess the feasibility in general settings, we develop a…
We report a straightforward, model-free approach for measuring pair potentials from particle-coordinate data, based on enforcing consistency between the pair distribution function measured separately by the distance-histogram and…
We report on pair interaction measurements in charged colloidal systems in confined and unconfined geometries by means of optical microscopy. At very small particle distances we observe minute distortions in the optical images which can…
Herein, we describe new methods to produce colloidal particle chains of three stiffness regimes that can be observed on a single-particle level, that is, on the level of the monomers that make up the chain; the chains can even be observed…
This preliminary study presents a simple modulation scheme to dynamically create time-averaged optical potentials to trap colloidal particles using acousto-optical modulation. The method provides access to control experimentally relevant…
Active colloidal particles typically exhibit a pronounced affinity for accumulating and being captured at boundaries. Here, we engineer long-range repulsive interactions between colloids that self-propel under an electric field and…
Accurate interaction potentials between microscopic components such as colloidal particles or cells are crucial to understanding a range of processes, including colloidal crystallization, bacterial colony formation, and cancer metastasis.…
We report an experimental study of the elastic properties of a two-dimensional (2D) colloidal crystal subjected to light-induced substrate potentials. In agreement with recent theoretical predictions [H.H. von Gruenberg and J. Baumgartl,…
The Landau-de Gennes free energy is used to study theoretically the interaction of parallel cylindrical colloidal particles trapped at a nematic-isotropic interface. We find that the effective interaction potential is non-monotonic. The…
A method for measuring the pair interaction potential between colloidal particles by extrapolation measurement of collective structure to infinite dilution is presented and explored using simulation and experiment. The method is…
We present a method to control the resonant coupling interaction in a coupled-cavity photonic crystal molecule by using a local and reversible photochromic tuning technique. We demonstrate the ability to tune both a two-cavity and a…
In this paper, we propose a new algorithm based on radial symmetry center method to track colloidal particles close to contact, where the optical images of the particles start to overlap in digital video microscopy. This overlapping effect…
We formulate statistical-mechanical inverse methods in order to determine optimized interparticle interactions that spontaneously produce target many-particle configurations. Motivated by advances that give experimentalists greater and…
Periodically-modulated potentials in the form of light fields have previously been applied to induce reversible phase transitions in dilute colloidal systems with long-range interactions. Here we investigate whether similar transitions can…
We investigate and provide optimal sets of reaction coordinates for mixed pairs of molecules displaying polar, uniaxial, or spherical symmetry in two and three dimensions. These coordinates are non-redundant, i.e., they implicitly involve…
When a colloid is mixed with a depletant such as a non-adsorbing polymer, one observes attractive effective interactions between the colloidal particles. If these particles are anisotropic, analysis of these effective interactions is…
Rotational excitation of polar molecules trapped in an optical lattice gives rise to rotational excitons. Here we show that non-linear interactions of such excitons can be controlled by an electric field. The exciton--exciton interactions…
We report on the construction of colloidal stars: 1 micrometer polystyrene beads grafted with a dense brush of 1 micrometer long and 10 nm wide semi-flexible filamentous viruses. The pair interaction potentials of colloidal stars are…
Theoretical studies of self-assembly processes and condensed phases in colloidal systems are often based on effective inter-particle potentials. Here we show that developing an effective potential for particles interacting with a limited…
The ability to tune interparticle interactions is one of the main advantages of using ultracold quantum gases for quantum simulation of many-body physics. Current experiments with ultracold polar molecules employ shielding with microwave or…