Microswimmers exhibit more diverse behavior in quasi-two dimensions than in three dimensions. Such behavior remains elusive due to the analytical difficulty of dealing with two parallel solid boundaries. The existence of additional obstacles in quasi-two-dimensional systems further complicates the analysis. We fabricated microscopic pillars in quasi-two dimensions by etching glass coverslips and observed the interactions between swimming bacteria and the pillars. Bacteria got trapped around the circular pillars and the trapping efficiency increased as the quasi-two-dimensionality was increased or as the curvature of the pillars was decreased. Experiments with elliptic pillars demonstrated the possibility that the local curvature of the obstacle controls the trapping efficiency.
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