Patterned when wet: environment-dependent multifunctional patterns within amphiphilic colloidal crystals.

A simple integration of molecular and colloidal self-assembly approaches with photopatterning is shown to produce multifunctional patterns of amphiphilic colloidal crystals. These crystals display binary spatial patterns of wettability by water and a single photonic stop-band in air. Upon exposure to water, the uniform stop-band is replaced by a pattern of coexisting stop-bands that reflect the underlying pattern of surface wetting.

A class of supported membranes: formation of fluid phospholipid bilayers on photonic band gap colloidal crystals.

We report the formation of a new class of supported membranes consisting of a fluid phospholipid bilayer coupled directly to a broadly tunable colloidal crystal with a well-defined photonic band gap. For nanoscale colloidal crystals exhibiting a band gap at the optical frequencies, substrate-induced vesicle fusion gives rise to a surface bilayer riding onto the crystal surface. The bilayer is two-dimensionally continuous, spanning multiple beads with lateral mobilities which reflect the coupling between the bilayer topography and the curvature of the supporting colloidal surface.

Formation of spatially patterned colloidal photonic crystals through the control of capillary forces and template recognition.

We report the formation of microscopic patterns of substrate-supported, 3D planar colloidal crystals using physical confinement in conjunction with surfaces displaying predetermined binary patterns of hydropholicity. The formation process involves a primary self-assembly wherein nano- and microscale colloids order into a photonic fcc lattice via capillary interactions followed by a secondary template-induced crystal cleavage step. Following this method, arbitrary arrays of pattern elements, which preserve structural and orientational properties of the parent crystal, can be easily obtained.

Acoustic microscopy and nonlinear effects in pressurized superfluid helium.

The operation of an acoustic microscope having a resolution of 15 mm has been demonstrated. It uses as a coupling medium superfluid (4 )He colder than 0.9 K and pressurized to greater than 20 bar.