Dissipative self-assembly of colloidal suspensions

Suspensions of paramagnetic colloids exhibit kinetic arrest in strong magnetic fields. Through a dissipative process of toggling the field on and off, suspensions self-assemble into dense and dynamic steady-state phases. We construct a phase diagram using k-means clustering analysis based on domain elongation, α-shapes, contour metrics, and the degree of phase separation. We identify six characteristic structural regimes: a structureless phase, an arrested structure, sheets, ribbons, a spiky phase, and a transient fluid-fluid regime. We further report the distribution and alignment of domains and the generality of the results. We model self-assembled domain shapes using an equilibrium mean-field magnetostatic energy calculation, which predicts the surprising emergence of highly anisotropic structures driven by the sample's confinement.