Periodic structures and scaling Laws in a magnetic colloid

Summary Phase separation was found in an eicosane-based ferrofluid in zero applied field. Upon applying a magnetic field, the condensed phase breaks up to form a lattice of periodic columns. The periodicity λ scales with the layer thicknessL. Two scaling regimes were found. When thickness is small, where no branching is observed, λ ∞L ^1/2. In the large-thickness regime, a tree type of structure develops at the tail of each column, and the columns are separated by side bands while the scaling relation crosses over to λ ∞L ^2/3. Paper presented at the I International Conference on Scaling Concepts and Complex Fluids, Copanello, Italy, July 4–8, 1994. this work is in collaboration with Hao Wang, Yun Zhu, C. Boyd, A. Cebers and R. E. Rosensweig.