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Microscopic viscoelasticity: Shear moduli of soft materials determined from thermal fluctuations

Publication ,  Journal Article
Gittes, F; Schnurr, B; Olmsted, PD; MacKintosh, FC; Schmidt, CF
Published in: Physical Review Letters
January 1, 1997

We describe a high-resolution, high-bandwidth technique for determining the local viscoelasticity of soft materials such as polymer gels. Loss and storage shear moduli are determined from the power spectra of thermal fluctuations of embedded micron-sized probe particles, observed with an interferometric microscope. This provides a passive, small-amplitude measurement of rheological properties over a much broader frequency range than previously accessible to microrheology. We study both F-actin biopolymer solutions and polyacrylamide (PAAm) gels, as model semiflexible and flexible systems, respectively. We observe high-frequency ω3/4 scaling of the shear modulus in F-actin solutions, in contrast to ω3/4 scaling for PAAm. © 1997 The American Physical Society.

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Published In

Physical Review Letters

DOI

EISSN

1079-7114

ISSN

0031-9007

Publication Date

January 1, 1997

Volume

79

Issue

17

Start / End Page

3286 / 3289

Related Subject Headings

  • General Physics
  • 51 Physical sciences
  • 49 Mathematical sciences
  • 40 Engineering
  • 09 Engineering
  • 02 Physical Sciences
  • 01 Mathematical Sciences
 

Citation

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Gittes, F., Schnurr, B., Olmsted, P. D., MacKintosh, F. C., & Schmidt, C. F. (1997). Microscopic viscoelasticity: Shear moduli of soft materials determined from thermal fluctuations. Physical Review Letters, 79(17), 3286–3289. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.79.3286
Gittes, F., B. Schnurr, P. D. Olmsted, F. C. MacKintosh, and C. F. Schmidt. “Microscopic viscoelasticity: Shear moduli of soft materials determined from thermal fluctuations.” Physical Review Letters 79, no. 17 (January 1, 1997): 3286–89. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.79.3286.
Gittes F, Schnurr B, Olmsted PD, MacKintosh FC, Schmidt CF. Microscopic viscoelasticity: Shear moduli of soft materials determined from thermal fluctuations. Physical Review Letters. 1997 Jan 1;79(17):3286–9.
Gittes, F., et al. “Microscopic viscoelasticity: Shear moduli of soft materials determined from thermal fluctuations.” Physical Review Letters, vol. 79, no. 17, Jan. 1997, pp. 3286–89. Scopus, doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.79.3286.
Gittes F, Schnurr B, Olmsted PD, MacKintosh FC, Schmidt CF. Microscopic viscoelasticity: Shear moduli of soft materials determined from thermal fluctuations. Physical Review Letters. 1997 Jan 1;79(17):3286–3289.

Published In

Physical Review Letters

DOI

EISSN

1079-7114

ISSN

0031-9007

Publication Date

January 1, 1997

Volume

79

Issue

17

Start / End Page

3286 / 3289

Related Subject Headings

  • General Physics
  • 51 Physical sciences
  • 49 Mathematical sciences
  • 40 Engineering
  • 09 Engineering
  • 02 Physical Sciences
  • 01 Mathematical Sciences