2011/03/16 by Naïs Coq, Antoine Bricard, François-Damien Delapierre +5 · 53 citations
Engineering · Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Acoustics #Aerospace engineering #Anisotropy #Artificial intelligence #Characterization and Applications of Magnetic Nanoparticles #Classical mechanics #Collective motion #Computer science #Condensed matter physics #Dynamics (music) #Geometry #Magnetic field #Mechanics #Micro and Nano Robotics #Optics #Physics #Pickering emulsions and particle stabilization #Precession #Range (aeronautics) #Rod #Rotation (mathematics) #Symmetry (geometry) #Symmetry breaking #cond-mat.soft #physics.flu-dyn
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.107.014501
published in Physical Review Letters 107(1), 014501 (American Physical Society) · 5 pages, 3 figures
arxiv created 2011/03/16 · openalex publication_date 2011/06/27 · arxiv updated 2015/05/27 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We combine technical, experimental, and theoretical efforts to investigate the collective dynamics of artificial microcilia in a viscous fluid. We take advantage of soft lithography and colloidal self-assembly to devise microcarpets made of hundreds of slender magnetic rods. This novel experimental setup is used to investigate the dynamics of extended cilia arrays driven by a precessing magnetic field. Whereas the dynamics of an isolated cilium is a rigid body rotation, collective beating results in a symmetry breaking of the precession patterns. The trajectories of the cilia are anisotropic and experience a significant structural evolution as the actuation frequency increases. We present a minimal model to account for our experimental findings and demonstrate how the global geometry of the array imposes the shape of the trajectories via long-range hydrodynamic interactions.