title: Field-induced self-assembly of suspended colloidal membranes.
abstract: We report experiments that probe the self-assembly of micrometer-size colloids into one-particle-thick, robust, and self-healing membranes. In a magic-angle precessing magnetic field, superparamagnetic spheres experience isotropic pair attraction similar to the van der Waals force between atoms. But the many-body polarization interactions among them steer an ordered aggregation pathway consisting of growth of short chains, cross-linking and network formation, network coarsening, and consolidation of membrane patches. This generic aggregation scenario can be induced in any particles of large enough susceptibility.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, University of Ljubljana, Jadranska 19, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Osterman
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Poberaj
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dobnikar
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Frenkel
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ziherl
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Babić