Orientational dynamics of fluctuating dipolar particles assembled in a mesoscopic colloidal ribbon

Helena Massana-Cid, Fernando Martinez-Pedrero, Andrejs Cebers, and Pietro Tierno
Phys. Rev. E 96, 012607 – Published 24 July 2017

Abstract

We combine experiments and theory to investigate the dynamics and orientational fluctuations of ferromagnetic microellipsoids that form a ribbonlike structure due to attractive dipolar forces. When assembled in the ribbon, the ellipsoids display orientational thermal fluctuations with an amplitude that can be controlled via application of an in-plane magnetic field. We use video microscopy to investigate the orientational dynamics in real time and space. Theoretical arguments are used to derive an analytical expression that describes how the distribution of the different angular configurations depends on the strength of the applied field. The experimental data are in good agreement with the developed model for all the range of field parameters explored. Understanding the role of fluctuations in chains composed of dipolar particles is important not only from a fundamental point of view, but it may also help understanding the stability of such structures against thermal noise, which is relevant in microfluidics and laboratory-on-a-chip applications.

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  • Received 13 June 2017

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.96.012607

©2017 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Polymers & Soft Matter

Authors & Affiliations

Helena Massana-Cid1, Fernando Martinez-Pedrero2, Andrejs Cebers3, and Pietro Tierno1,4,5,*

  • 1Departament de Física de la Matèria Condensada, Universitat de Barcelona, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
  • 2Departamento de Química Física I, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Ciudad Universitaria, 28040, Madrid, Spain
  • 3Faculty of Physics and Mathematics, University of Latvia, Zellu 23, LV-1002
  • 4Universitat de Barcelona Institute of Complex Systems (UBICS), Universitat de Barcelona, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
  • 5Institut de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia, IN2 UB, Universitat de Barcelona, 08028 Barcelona, Spain

  • *ptierno@ub.edu

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Vol. 96, Iss. 1 — July 2017

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