Manipulations of vibrating micro magnetic particle chains

Abstract

We investigate the motion of a micro-chain consisting of several magnetic particles. The chain is firstly formed by a uniform directional field, and then manipulated by a vibrating field. We demonstrate where the chain appears to display distinct behaviors, from rigid body vibrations, bending distortions to breaking failures, by increasing either the chain's length or vibrating amplitude. In addition, the vibrating chain can be successfully driven forward, mimicking a micro-swimmer by connecting particles of different sizes. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3675269]