Journal Article

FZJ-2021-02855

http://join2-wiki.gsi.de/foswiki/pub/Main/Artwork/join2_logo100x88.png When bigger is faster: A self-Van Hove analysis of the enhanced self-diffusion of non-commensurate guest particles in smectics

Lettinga, M. P. (Corresponding author)FZJ* ; Alvarez, L.Extern* ; Korculanin, O.FZJ* ; Grelet, E.Extern*

2021
American Institute of Physics Melville, NY

This record in other databases:      

Please use a persistent id in citations: http://hdl.handle.net/2128/28064  doi:10.1063/5.0049093

Abstract: We investigate the anomalous dynamics in smectic phases of short host rods where, counter-intuitively, long guest rod-shaped particles diffuse faster than the short host ones due to their precise size mismatch. In addition to the previously reported mean-square displacement, we analyze the time evolution of the self-Van Hove functions G(r, t), as this probability density function uncovers intrinsic heterogeneous dynamics. Through this analysis, we show that the dynamics of the host particles parallel to the director becomes non-Gaussian and therefore heterogeneous after the nematic-to-smectic-A phase transition, even though it exhibits a nearly diffusive behavior according to its mean-squared displacement. In contrast, the non-commensurate guest particles display Gaussian dynamics of the parallel motion, up to the transition to the smectic-B phase. Thus, we show that the self-Van Hove function is a very sensitive probe to account for the instantaneous and heterogeneous dynamics of our system and should be more widely considered as a quantitative and complementary approach of the classical mean-squared displacement characterization in diffusion processes.I. INTRODUCTION

---

Contributing Institute(s):

1. Biomakromolekulare Systeme und Prozesse (IBI-4)

Research Program(s):

1. 5243 - Information Processing in Distributed Systems (POF4-524) (POF4-524)

Appears in the scientific report 2021

---

Database coverage:
; ; Clarivate Analytics Master Journal List ; Current Contents - Physical, Chemical and Earth Sciences ; Ebsco Academic Search ; Essential Science Indicators ; IF < 5 ; JCR ; National-Konsortium ; Nationallizenz ; PubMed Central ; SCOPUS ; Science Citation Index Expanded ; Web of Science Core Collection

---