Semi-flexible colloidal filaments as experimental models for active polymers

Active polymers are ubiquitous in living matter. While advances have been made in theory and simulations in understanding the behavior of active filaments, experimental studies specifically ones pertaining to synthetic active filaments are scarce. To this end, we fabricate semi-flexible colloidal filaments composed of dielectric particles and study their response when subjected to alternating electric fields. Our study shows that local electrohydrodynamic flows generated by chain monomers result in fascinating conformational and dynamical properties of the colloidal filaments remiscient of active polymers. Further, we find that the nature of the electrohydrodynamic flows determines if a chain softens or stiffness. In this talk, I will discuss our efforts in developing a colloidal model system to investigate active filaments directy via experiments using external fields and bacterial baths.