Hindrance function for sedimentation and creaming of colloidal disks.

We report the first measurement of the hindrance function for sedimentation or creaming of disk-shaped colloids via the analytical centrifugation. Disks align with the external flow right above a volume fraction of a few percent, and this effect is extremely sensitive to the aspect ratio of disks. Due to this alignment effect, disk sedimentation or creaming demonstrates distinct trends in dilute and semidilute regions.