Order-disorder transition in a quasi-two-dimensional colloidal system

A 2D colloidal system governed by repulsive dipolar forces tends to form a more ordered system when the interaction strength between the particles increases. Here we report an order-disorder transition of the colloidal system followed by chain formation upon increasing the dipolar interactions and show that the critical field scales with the density of colloids. Our system can do this by changing its dimensionality and therefore exhibits novel behavior that could help us understand colloidal ordering phenomena.