[en] The interparticle force between two colloidal particles in a nematic liquid crystal is directly measured as a function of the interparticle distance R by two different experimental methods: the free-release method and the optical tweezing method. The obtained force between an elastic 'dipole', which constitutes a colloidal particle and an accompanying hyperbolic hedgehog defect, confirms previous theoretical predictions that the force is attractive and proportional to R^-4. We also observe that a repulsive component emerges at short distances to preclude direct contact of the particles. We find that the magnitudes of the forces obtained by the two methods are different. The origin of this discrepancy is discussed by a comparison between the static and the non-static measurements

[en] The self-propelled motion of a mm-sized oil droplet floating on water, induced by a local temperature gradient generated by CW laser irradiation is reported. The circular droplet exhibits two types of regular periodic motion, reciprocal and circular, around the laser spot under suitable laser power. With an increase in laser power, a mode bifurcation from rectilinear reciprocal motion to circular motion is caused. The essential aspects of this mode bifurcation are discussed in terms of spontaneous symmetry-breaking under temperature-induced interfacial instability, and are theoretically reproduced with simple coupled differential equations

[en] It is well known that polyamines induce a folding transition from an elongated coil to a compact globule state for giant DNA larger than several tens of kbp (kilo base pairs). Here, we studied the interaction between compact DNA molecules in the presence of linear and branched-chain isomers of polyamines. We compared the stability of the assembly among plural number of compact DNA molecules generated by laser trapping. As a result, the assembly of compact DNAs with a linear-chain polyamine is stable even after the laser is switched off. On the other hand, the assembly of DNAs with a branched-chain polyamine disperses into individual compact DNAs when the laser is switched off. Thus, compact DNAs with linear- and branched-chain polyamines attract and repel each other, respectively. This difference in the effects of linear and branched polyamines is discussed in terms of the steric interaction between negatively charged double-strand DNA and cationic polyamines.

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