Three-body interactions in colloidal systems
Abstract
We present a direct measurement of three-body interactions in a colloidal system comprised of three charged colloidal particles. Two of the particles have been confined by means of a scanned laser tweezers to a line-shaped optical trap where they diffused due to thermal fluctuations. Upon the approach of a third particle, attractive three-body interactions have been observed. The results are in qualitative agreement with additionally performed nonlinear Poisson-Boltzmann calculations, which also allow us to investigate the microionic density distributions in the neighborhood of the interacting colloidal particles.
- Publication:
-
Physical Review E
- Pub Date:
- March 2004
- DOI:
- 10.1103/PhysRevE.69.031402
- arXiv:
- arXiv:0801.3922
- Bibcode:
- 2004PhRvE..69c1402D
- Keywords:
-
- 82.70.Dd;
- Colloids;
- Condensed Matter - Soft Condensed Matter
- E-Print:
- Phys.Rev. E 69 (3) 031402 (2004)