  We investigate the behavior of colloidal particles immersed in a binary
liquid mixture of water and 2,6-lutidine in the presence of a chemically
patterned substrate. Close to the critical point of the mixture, the particles
are subjected to critical Casimir interactions with force components normal and
parallel to the surface. Because the strength and sign of these interactions
can be tuned by variations in the surface properties and the mixtures
temperature, critical Casimir forces allow the formation of highly ordered
monolayers but also extend the use of colloids as model systems.
