Controlled Optofluidic Crystallization of Colloids Tethered at Interfaces
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Updated: Dec 10, 2025

Confocal Imaging of Confined Quiescent and Flowing Colloid-polymer Mixtures
Published on: May 20, 2014
Alessio Caciagli1, Rajesh Singh2, Darshana Joshi1
1Cavendish Laboratory, 19 JJ Thomson Avenue, Cambridge CB3 0HE, United Kingdom.
Abstract:
We report experiments that show rapid crystallization of colloids tethered to an oil-water interface in response to laser illumination. This light-induced transition is due to a combination of long-ranged thermophoretic pumping and local optical binding. We show that the flow-induced force on the colloids can be described as the gradient of a potential. The nonequilibrium steady state due to local heating thus admits an effective equilibrium description. The optofluidic manipulation explored in this work opens novel ways to manipulate and assemble colloidal particles.
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