Three dimensional instability of flexible ferromagnetic filament loop

TL;DR

This paper investigates the buckling instability of flexible ferromagnetic filaments in magnetic fields, demonstrating the formation of metastable loops and analyzing their relaxation dynamics through experiments and simulations.

Contribution

It reveals a new three-dimensional buckling instability in ferromagnetic filaments and characterizes the formation and relaxation of metastable loops with theoretical and experimental methods.

Findings

Buckling instability occurs at magnetic field reversion.

Metastable loops form and relax via 3D transformations.

Relaxation time estimates hydrodynamic drag of the filament.

Abstract

Dynamics of flexible ferromagnetic filaments in an external magnetic field is considered. We report the existence of a buckling instability of the ferromagnetic filament at the magnetic field reversion, which leads to the formation of a metastable loop. Its relaxation through three dimensional transformation of the configurations is observed experimentally and confirmed by numerical simulations. Bending modulus of the flexible ferromagnetic filaments synthesized by linking micron size core-shell ferromagnetic particles with DNA fragments is estimated by comparison of the parameters of the loops observed in the experiment with theoretical calculations. Formation of the loop and its relaxation are characterized by the numerically calculated writhe number. The relaxation time of the loop allows us to estimate the hydrodynamic drag of the filament.