Research projects
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Colloid Synthesis
In our group, we use a wide range of particles made from different materials and with different shapes including raspberries, rods, banana-shaped particles, and dumbbells.
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Optical Tweezing
In the Dullens Lab we can tune the properties of our colloidal particles such that we can control and manipulate both individual and groups of colloids with infrared lasers (optical tweezers) whilst combining this with simultaneous optical imaging.
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Two-dimensional Systems
In our laboratory, we use colloidal monolayers composed of relatively large (~1-10 µm ) colloidal particles, which are strongly confined to the surface of their cell and behave as a quasi-two dimensional system.
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Crystals and grain boundaries
In our group, we study various aspect of grain boundaries, such as their migration dynamics in terms of particle motion and dislocation dynamics.
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Driven Systems
In our experiments, we focus on driving systems that are subject to one or more optical traps. We can drive particles through this so-called optical potential energy landscape.
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Thermal-to-athermal systems
Using the OCULI particles developed by our group we investigate the rotational how rotational dynamics change as we cross from one realm into another.
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Colloidal liquid crystals
Liquid crystals are a fascinating state of matter. How do particle shapes like rods and bananas form them? We use microscopy to reveal their structure and dynamics.