title: Imprintable membranes from incomplete chiral coalescence.
abstract: Coalescence is an essential phenomenon that governs the equilibrium behaviour in a variety of systems from intercellular transport to planetary formation. In this report, we study coalescence pathways of circularly shaped two-dimensional colloidal membranes, which are one rod-length-thick liquid-like monolayers of aligned rods. The chirality of the constituent rods leads to three atypical coalescence pathways that are not found in other simple or complex fluids. In particular, we characterize two pathways that do not proceed to completion but instead produce partially joined membranes connected by line defects-π-wall defects or alternating arrays of twisted bridges and pores. We elucidate the structure and energetics of these defects and ascribe their stability to a geometrical frustration inherently present in chiral colloidal membranes. Furthermore, we induce the coalescence process with optical forces, leading to a robust on-demand method for imprinting networks of channels and pores into colloidal membranes.
authors.affiliation: 1] Department of Physics, Brandeis University, 415 South Street, Waltham, Massachusetts 02454, USA [2].
authors.forename: Mark J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Zakhary
authors.affiliation: 1] Department of Physics, Brandeis University, 415 South Street, Waltham, Massachusetts 02454, USA [2] Laboratoire de Physique, Ecole Normale Suprieure de Lyon, Universit de Lyon I, CNRS/UMR 5672, 46 alle dItalie, Lyon 69007, France [3].
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Gibaud
authors.affiliation: 1] Department of Physics, Brandeis University, 415 South Street, Waltham, Massachusetts 02454, USA [2] School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA.
authors.forename: C Nadir
authors.initials: CN
authors.lastname: Kaplan
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Brandeis University, 415 South Street, Waltham, Massachusetts 02454, USA.
authors.forename: Edward
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Barry
authors.affiliation: Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543, USA.
authors.forename: Rudolf
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Oldenbourg
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Brandeis University, 415 South Street, Waltham, Massachusetts 02454, USA.
authors.forename: Robert B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Meyer
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Brandeis University, 415 South Street, Waltham, Massachusetts 02454, USA.
authors.forename: Zvonimir
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Dogic