  Spin coating is an out-of-equilibrium technique for producing polymer films
and colloidal crystals quickly and reproducibly. In this review, we present an
overview of theoretical and experimental studies of the spin coating of
colloidal suspensions. The dynamics of the spin coating process is discussed
first, and we present insights from both theory and experiment. A key
difference between spin coating with polymer solutions and with monodisperse
colloidal suspensions is the emergence of long range (centimeter scale)
orientational correlations in the latter. We discuss experiments in different
physical regimes that shed light on the many unusual partially-ordered
structures that have long-range orientational order, but no long-range
translational order. The nature of these structures can be tailored by adding
electric or magnetic fields during the spin coating procedure. These
partially-ordered structures can be considered as model systems for studying
the fundamentals of poorly crystalline and defect-rich solids, and they can
also serve as templates for patterned and/or porous optical and magnetic
materials.
