Related papers: Direct measurement of the intermolecular forces co…
In this paper we present simulations of a surface-adsorbed polymer subject to an elongation force. The polymer is modelled by a self-avoiding walk on a regular lattice. It is confined to a half-space by an adsorbing surface with attractions…
An original optical tweezers using one or two chemically etched fiber nano-tips is developed. We demonstrate optical trapping of 1 micrometer polystyrene spheres at optical powers down to 2 mW. Harmonic trap potentials were found in the…
We discuss the appropriate techniques for modelling the geometry of open ended elastic polymer molecules. The molecule is assumed to have fixed endpoints on a boundary surface. In particular we discuss the concept of the winding number, a…
Using molecular dynamic simulation, we study the stretching of an adsorbed homopolymer in a poor solvent with one end held at a distance $z_e$ from the substrate. We measure the vertical force $f$ on the end of the chain as a function of…
We propose a very sensitive method for measuring the electric dipole moment of the electron using polar molecules embedded in a cryogenic solid matrix of inert-gas atoms. The polar molecules can be oriented in the $\hat{\rm{z}}$ direction…
We study the dynamics of a polymer or a D-dimensional elastic manifold diffusing and convected in a non-potential static random flow (the ``randomly driven polymer model''). We find that short-range (SR) disorder is relevant for d < 4 for…
The structure of polymers at solid interfaces evolves over time, but the corresponding changes in their rheological properties remain poorly understood. Here, using a home-built quartz tuning fork atomic force microscope-based…
Monte Carlo simulations are used to study the behavior of two polymers under confinement in a cylindrical tube. Each polymer is modeled as a chain of hard spheres. We measure the free energy of the system, F, as a function of the distance…
Polymers are an effective test-bed for studying topological constraints in condensed matter due to a wide array of synthetically-available chain topologies. When linear and ring polymers are blended together, emergent rheological properties…
The relaxation dynamics of a polymer wound around a fixed obstacle constitutes a fundamental instance of polymer with twist and torque and it is of relevance also for DNA denaturation dynamics. We investigate it by simulations and Langevin…
We investigate the dynamics of a tagged particle embedded in a strongly interacting confined liquid enclosed between two opposing flat walls. Using the Zwanzig-Mori projection operator formalism we obtain an equation of motion for the…
Quantum measurements that use the entangled photons' polarization to encode quantum information require calibration and alignment of the measurement bases between spatially separate observers. Because of the changing birefringence in…
Many-body hydrodynamic interactions (HIs) play an important role in the dynamics of fluid suspensions. While many-body HIs have been studied extensively using particle simulations, there is a dearth of experimental frameworks with which to…
We simulate entangled linear polymers in free-standing thin film geometries where the confining dimension is on the same scale or smaller than the bulk chain dimensions. We compare both film-averaged and layer-resolved, spatially…
The dynamics of flexible polymer molecules are often assumed to be governed by hydrodynamics of the solvent. However there is considerable evidence that internal dissipation of a polymer contributes as well. Here we investigate the dynamics…
The universal density-force relation is analyzed and the correspondent universal amplitude ratio $B_{real}$ is obtained using the massive field theory approach in fixed space dimensions d=3 up to one-loop order. The layer monomer density…
Advances in optical trapping design principles have led to tremendous progress in manipulating nanoparticles (NPs) with diverse functionalities in different environments using bulky systems. However, efficient control and manipulation of…
We study the propagation of tension caused by an external force along a long polymeric molecule in two different settings, namely along a free polymer in 3d space being pulled from one end, and along a pre-stretched circular polymer,…
We discuss implications of a recent experimental breakthrough which uses a fluorescence-doped flexible semiconducting polymer to construct a single-molecule sensor which can detect ultra-weak forces in the molecular environment, with a grey…
Heavy polar molecules can be used to measure the electric dipole moment of the electron, which is a sensitive probe of physics beyond the Standard Model. The value is determined by measuring the precession of the molecule's spin in a plane…