Open AccessSuppressing the Rayleigh–Plateau Instability in Field-Directed Colloidal Assembly
Author(s) -
Jonathan L. Bauer,
Martin J. Kurian,
Johnathan R. Stauffer,
Eric M. Furst
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
langmuir
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.042
H-Index - 333
eISSN - 1520-5827
pISSN - 0743-7463
DOI - 10.1021/acs.langmuir.6b00771
Subject(s) - instability , colloid , magnetic field , rayleigh scattering , rayleigh–taylor instability , wavelength , field (mathematics) , plateau (mathematics) , phase (matter) , superparamagnetism , materials science , perpendicular , optics , condensed matter physics , physics , chemistry , mechanics , magnetization , geometry , mathematics , quantum mechanics , mathematical analysis , pure mathematics
Suspensions of superparamagnetic colloids that equilibrate in a toggled magnetic field undergo a Rayleigh-Plateau instability with a characteristic wavelength λ = 600 μm for the toggle frequency ν = 0.66 Hz. The instability is suppressed when the chamber length L in the field direction is less than 2λ. The final size of the magnetic domains perpendicular to the field, D, follows a power law relation of D ∼ L(0.71±0.07). These results demonstrate the structural differences of field-directed suspensions when confined to lengths scale set by the phase separation process and can potentially be used to create self-assembled colloidal crystals with well-defined size and shape.