Rolling at right angles: Magnetic anisotropy enables dual-anisotropic active matter
Fitzgerald E, Clavaud C, Das D, Lenton IC, Waitukaitis SR. 2025. Rolling at right angles: Magnetic anisotropy enables dual-anisotropic active matter. Physical Review E. 112(6), 065418.
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Author
Fitzgerald, EavanISTA;
Clavaud, CécileISTA 
;
Das, Debasish;
Lenton, Isaac CISTA ;
Waitukaitis, Scott RISTA
;
Das, Debasish;
Lenton, Isaac CISTA ;
Waitukaitis, Scott RISTA Corresponding author has ISTA affiliation
Department
Grant
Abstract
We report on an experimental active matter system with motion restricted to four cardinal directions. Our particles are magnetite-doped colloidal spheres driven by the Quincke electrorotational instability. The absence of a magnetic field (|𝑩|=0) leads to circular trajectories interspersed with short spontaneous runs. Intermediate fields (|𝑩|≲20mT) linearize the motion along the axis perpendicular to 𝑩. At high magnetic fields, we observe the surprising emergence of a second, distinct linearization along the axis parallel to 𝑩. With numerical simulations, we show that this behavior can be explained by anisotropic magnetic susceptibility.
Publishing Year
Date Published
2025-12-01
Journal Title
Physical Review E
Publisher
American Physical Society
Acknowledgement
This research was funded in whole or in part by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) [Grant DOI: 10.55776/ESP298]. This project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (Grant
Agreement No. 949120). This research was supported by the Scientific Service Units of The Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) through resources provided by the Miba Machine Shop, Nanofabrication Facility, Scientific Computing Facility, and Lab Support Facility. We wish to acknowledge the crucial contributions of Alexandre Morin in getting the project off the ground, and Jack Merrin for creating the SU-8 deposition protocol used in the construction of our
cells. We also wish to thank Kimberley Modic and Hamza Nasir for their work on single-particle characterization.
Acknowledged SSUs
Volume
112
Issue
6
Article Number
065418
ISSN
eISSN
IST-REx-ID
Cite this
Fitzgerald E, Clavaud C, Das D, Lenton IC, Waitukaitis SR. Rolling at right angles: Magnetic anisotropy enables dual-anisotropic active matter. Physical Review E. 2025;112(6). doi:10.1103/1ss8-31rb
Fitzgerald, E., Clavaud, C., Das, D., Lenton, I. C., & Waitukaitis, S. R. (2025). Rolling at right angles: Magnetic anisotropy enables dual-anisotropic active matter. Physical Review E. American Physical Society. https://doi.org/10.1103/1ss8-31rb
Fitzgerald, Eavan, Cécile Clavaud, Debasish Das, Isaac C Lenton, and Scott R Waitukaitis. “Rolling at Right Angles: Magnetic Anisotropy Enables Dual-Anisotropic Active Matter.” Physical Review E. American Physical Society, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1103/1ss8-31rb.
E. Fitzgerald, C. Clavaud, D. Das, I. C. Lenton, and S. R. Waitukaitis, “Rolling at right angles: Magnetic anisotropy enables dual-anisotropic active matter,” Physical Review E, vol. 112, no. 6. American Physical Society, 2025.
Fitzgerald E, Clavaud C, Das D, Lenton IC, Waitukaitis SR. 2025. Rolling at right angles: Magnetic anisotropy enables dual-anisotropic active matter. Physical Review E. 112(6), 065418.
Fitzgerald, Eavan, et al. “Rolling at Right Angles: Magnetic Anisotropy Enables Dual-Anisotropic Active Matter.” Physical Review E, vol. 112, no. 6, 065418, American Physical Society, 2025, doi:10.1103/1ss8-31rb.
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