Giorgio Volpe (University College London)

Actuating soft matter with light: towards applications of active colloids and droplets

Light carries energy and momentum. It can thus influence the motion of objects from atomic to astronomical scales. Being widely available, readily controllable and broadly biocompatible, light is also an ideal tool to actuate small particles, from colloids to droplets. In this talk, I will discuss our recent efforts to control the actuation of these soft materials towards their use for applications ranging from photonic devices to printing patterns and molecules.