Berlin 2015 – scientific programme

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DY: Fachverband Dynamik und Statistische Physik

DY 16: Microswimmers - Part I (joint session DY/ BP/ CPP)

DY 16.9: Talk

Tuesday, March 17, 2015, 11:45–12:00, BH-N 128

Experimental setup for 3D tracking of artificial active microswimmers — •Gunnar Klös, Carsten Krüger, Corinna C. Maass, and Stephan Herminghaus — Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization (MPIDS), 37077 Göttingen, Germany

During solubilisation in an aqueous surfactant solution well above the critical micelle solution, droplets of nematic liquid crystal show self-propelled swimming, driven by a Marangoni flow at the droplet interface [1]. These active pusher-type swimmers provide a potential physical model-system for micro-bioswimmers. We expect dimensional confinement to have a significant impact on their dynamics [2].

We have designed an experimental setup combining a microfluidic cell with a selective plane microscope using a scanning fluorescent light sheet [3]. At densities within the single scattering limit, trajectories of single swimmers or ensembles can be recorded under varying conditions of buoyancy, particle activity and cell geometry.

[1] S. Herminghaus et al., Soft Matter 10, 7008 (2014). [2] E. Lauga et al., Biophys. J. 90, 400 (2006). [3] J. Huisken et al., Science 305, 1007 (2004).