Direct Observation of Nondiffusive Motion of a Brownian Particle

B. Lukić, S. Jeney, C. Tischer, A. J. Kulik, L. Forró, and E.-L. Florin
Phys. Rev. Lett. 95, 160601 – Published 11 October 2005
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Abstract

The thermal position fluctuations of a single micron-sized sphere immersed in a fluid were recorded by optical trapping interferometry with nanometer spatial and microsecond temporal resolution. We find, in accord with the theory of Brownian motion including hydrodynamic memory effects, that the transition from ballistic to diffusive motion is delayed to significantly longer times than predicted by the standard Langevin equation. This delay is a consequence of the inertia of the fluid. On the shortest time scales investigated, the sphere’s inertia has a small, but measurable, effect.

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  • Received 18 June 2005

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.95.160601

©2005 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

B. Lukić1, S. Jeney1, C. Tischer2, A. J. Kulik1, L. Forró1, and E.-L. Florin3,*

  • 1Institut de Physique de la Matière Complexe, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
  • 2European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Meyerhofstrasse 1, D-69117 Heidelberg, Germany
  • 3Center for Nonlinear Dynamics, University of Texas, Austin, Texas 78712, USA

  • *Electronic address: florin@chaos.utexas.edu

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Vol. 95, Iss. 16 — 14 October 2005

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