Self-assembled clusters of mutually repelling particles in confinement

TL;DR

This paper shows that particles with different interaction types can self-assemble into identical ordered structures by adjusting the ratio of repulsive and confining forces, demonstrated through simulations and experiments.

Contribution

It introduces a method to induce diverse particles to form the same geometric clusters by controlling force ratios, applicable in 2D and 1D confinement.

Findings

Particles of different types can form identical structures under force regulation.

The phenomenon is valid for both long- and short-range potentials.

The approach works in 2D and transitions to 1D structures.

Abstract

Mutually repelling particles form spontaneously ordered clusters when forced into confinement. The clusters may adopt similar spatial arrangements even if the underlying particle interactions are contrastingly different. Here we demonstrate with both simulations and experiments that it is possible to induce particles of very different types to self-assemble into the same ordered geometric structure by simply regulating the ratio between the repulsion and confining forces. This is the case for both long- and short-ranged potentials. This property is initially explored in systems with two-dimensional (2D) circular symmetry and subsequently demonstrated to be valid throughout the transition to one-dimensional (1D) structures through continuous elliptical deformations of the confining field. We argue that this feature can be utilized to manipulate the spatial structure of confined particles, thereby paving the way for the design of clusters with specific functionalities.