Recent studies have shown that double-stranded DNA can collapse in presence of a strong electric field. Here we provide an in-depth study of the collapse of DNA under weak confinement in microchannels as a function of buffer strength, driving frequency, applied electric field strength, and molecule size. We find that the critical electric field at which DNA molecules collapse (10s of kV/cm) is strongly dependent on driving frequency dependent (100 … 800 Hz) and molecular size (20 … 160 kbp), and weakly dependent on the ionic strength (8 … 60 mM). We argue that an apparent stretching at very high electric fields is an artifact of the finite frame time of video microscopy.PACS numbers: 87.14.gk, 36.20.Ey, 82.35.Lr, 82.35.Rs
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