We investigate the nonlinear behavior of a colloidal particle suspension driven by light in an optical single feedback system. We show numerically and experimentally that the process of transverse pattern formation is fundamentally similar to self-organized dynamics in volumetric media as for instance photorefractive or liquid crystals, but obtains, however, an additional degree of complexity due to the stochastic nature of colloidal suspensions. Additionally, we demonstrate experimentally the ability to control the formation of emerging patterns by sculpting the Fourier spectrum of the optical system. Thus, we extend a deeply studied feedback configuration by an ensemble of soft-matter particles and will present insights into this fascinating field of self-driven light-matter interaction.
Within recent years, optical micromanipulation has opened a broad field of applications in biomechanics, microrheology and nanoparticle assembly. In these fields, a highly desired action is sorting of the objects under consideration by their size. In this contribution, we employ Laguerre-Gaussian beams with helical phase fronts as trapping potential for dielectric particles and investigate the dynamics and size-dependent assembly of silica microspheres, induced by light-matter interactions. We demonstrate both experimentally and numerically, that by adjusting the parameters of the tailored trapping potential, spatial segregation of particles by size is possible.
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