Controlling Colloidal Assembly through Optical Binding

Directed assembly of colloidal particles has attracted considerable interest from both a fundamental and applied perspective. Most approaches to colloidal self-assembly use short range forces, e.g. via patchy or shaped particles. As an alternative, I will discuss the possibility of using 'optical binding' - a long range inter-particle force generated by multiple light scattering - to control the assembly of particles via a tunable external field. Although this approach has many advantages in principle; significant experimental and modelling work is required to make this a practical approach. I will discuss our efforts in both directions.