Lining up magnetic colloids

COLL 509

Thomas Martin Fischer Sr. and Lars Egil Helseth. Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, The Florida State University, Tallahasee, FL 32306
We investigate the adsorption and diffusion of colloidal particles at an interface containing an one dimensional potential well. It is observed how the adsorption kinetics onto the wall is altered with time, and one observes the formation of a particle chain. We find that the time it takes for a bead to penetrate into the chain depends strongly on the particle density, and beyond a critical value this time diverges. We also study diffusion within the well, and find that at low particle densities the short time behavior is governed by normal Fickian diffusion.