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Assembly and transport of nematic colloidal swarms above photo-patterned defects and surfaces

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We investigate the dynamic assembly and swarm translocation of anisometric colloidal particles dispersed in a nematic liquid crystal and driven above a photosensitive surface. We use liquid crystal-enabled electrophoresis to propel these particles via an alternating electric field perpendicular to the sample cell. By manipulating the anchoring conditions on one surface of the experimental cell, we obtain a spatially extended spiral pattern of the liquid crystal orientation that induces the dynamic assembly of a rotating colloidal mill. This structure can be transported by translocating the topological defect above the photosensitive surface. We complement our findings with a theoretical model that captures the basic physics of the process, by formulating an analytic equation for the director field above the surface. Our reconfigurable nematic assemblies may be used as a test bed for complex swarming behaviour in biological and artificial microscale systems.

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(c) IOP Publishing Ltd and Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft, 2018

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Articles publicats en revistes (Ciència dels Materials i Química Física)

# metadata.dc.title[].value
Assembly and transport of nematic colloidal swarms above photo-patterned defects and surfaces