Magnetic Merry Go Round - Resonant Reshaping of Colloidal Clusters on a Current Carrying Wire

We describe a simple physical method for trapping and transforming magnetic colloid clusters on a current carrying wire. We use the wire's field as a mould to form colloidal rings and helices on its surface. To transform the initially amorphous, kinetically trapped, bulky clusters we induce a low frequency magnetic modulation wave that spins around the wire axis, effectively eliminates defects from the clusters and stretches them into slender rings and helical structures. A qualitative theoretical model of the underlying resonant transformations is developed and the practical potential of the wire as a magnetic micro-assembler is discussed.