Self-assembled magnetic surface swimmers

We report studies of novel self-assembled magnetic surface swimmers (magnetic snakes) formed from a dispersion of magnetic microparticles at a liquid-air interface and energized by an alternating magnetic field. We show that under certain conditions the snakes spontaneously break the symmetry of sur...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physical review letters 2009-03, Vol.102 (11), p.118103-118103, Article 118103
Main Authors: Snezhko, A, Belkin, M, Aranson, I S, Kwok, W-K
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
AMPLITUDES
HYDRODYNAMICS
Locomotion
MAGNETIC FIELDS
MAGNETIC MATERIALS
MAGNETIC SURFACES
Magnetics
MATERIALS SCIENCE
Models, Biological
Models, Theoretical
MOTION
PROPULSION
SYMMETRY
SYNTHESIS
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Summary:We report studies of novel self-assembled magnetic surface swimmers (magnetic snakes) formed from a dispersion of magnetic microparticles at a liquid-air interface and energized by an alternating magnetic field. We show that under certain conditions the snakes spontaneously break the symmetry of surface flows and turn into self-propelled objects. Parameters of the driving magnetic field tune the propulsion velocity of these snakelike swimmers. We find that the symmetry of the surface flows can also be broken in a controlled fashion by attaching a large bead to a magnetic snake (bead-snake hybrid), transforming it into a self-locomoting entity. The observed phenomena have been successfully described by a phenomenological model based on the amplitude equation for surface waves coupled to a large-scale hydrodynamic mean flow equation.
ISSN:0031-9007
1079-7114
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevLett.102.118103