Image gallery

Images from the research performed in the COMPLEX group:

Grain maze. A maze-like pattern emerges when a mixture of grains and fluid confined between two glass plates is slowly drained. Fingers of air penetrate the system, leaving behind a complex, branching structure of compacted grains. The pattern forming instability is a result of a finely balanced interaction between capillary forces and friction.

Vortex avalanche in a superconductor. When a superconducting film is placed in a perpendicular magnetic field, the flux penetration sometimes occurs via abrupt avalanches that result in remarkable dendritic flux patterns that can be observed using magneto-optical imaging. (For more images see www.fys.uio.no/super.)

Carbon cones. Carbon nanoparticles occur in five different basic forms: diamond, graphite, fullerenes, nanotubes and nanocones. Carbon cones and carbon disks can be produced in the so-called "Kvaerner Carbon Black & Hydrogen Process". These cones consist of perfect carbon sheets and can exist with only five distinct cone angles. Their opening diameter can be up to one micrometer as can be seen in this electron microscopy image. They have several interesting nanotechnological applications. More ...

Silver electrodeposites. When an electric current is run through a solution of silver ions in water, the silver will deposite on the negative electrode. Depending on the ion concentration and the current strenght, they can form branched, fractal aggregates resembling living plants.

Crystal of colloidal microspheres. Colloidal particles of micrometer size in a liquid solution can crystallize in a way very similar to atomic crystallization and freezing. This monolayer of polystyrene microspheres display vacancies, point defects and grain boundaries on a length scale that can easily be observed with an optical microscope.