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Realizing colloidal artificial ice on arrays of optical traps
A Libál1, C Reichhardt, C J Olson Reichhardt
1Center for Nonlinear Studies and Theoretical Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA.
Abstract:
We demonstrate how a colloidal version of artificial ice can be realized on optical trap lattices. Using numerical simulations, we show that this system obeys the ice rules and that for strong colloid-colloid interactions, an ordered ground state appears. We show that the ice-rule ordering can occur for systems with as few as 24 traps and that the ordering transition can be observed at constant temperature by varying the barrier strength of the traps.
