Control of microswimmers by spiral nematic vortices: Transition from individual to collective motion and contraction, expansion, and stable circulation of bacterial swirls
Runa Koizumi, Taras Turiv, Mikhail Genkin, Robert J. Lastowski, Hao Yu, Irakli Chaganava, Qi‐Huo Wei, Igor S. Aranson, Oleg D. Lavrentovich
Abstract
The authors introduce a method to control swimming bacteria by a liquid crystal environment. The paper shows that a liquid crystal nematic patterned as a spiral vortex causes an individual-to-collective transition as the bacterial concentration increases, in which non-polar swimming of individual bacteria is replaced by a unipolar circular swirling of condensed swarms.
Topics & Concepts
Liquid crystalVortexSpiral (railway)Contraction (grammar)MechanicsCondensed matter physicsPhysicsCirculation (fluid dynamics)PolarMaterials scienceClassical mechanicsOpticsBiologyEngineeringEndocrinologyMechanical engineeringAstronomyMicro and Nano RoboticsMolecular Communication and NanonetworksModular Robots and Swarm Intelligence