2D is the new 3D: Fluctuations in confinement

Dirk Aarts

University of Oxford, Physical and Theoretical Chemistry Laboratory, Oxford, UK

I will present measurements on the interface fluctuations of confined droplets. To this end we use a fluid-fluid phase separated colloid-polymer mixture confined between two parallel glass plates studied by laser scanning confocal microscopy. The problem can be accurately described by introducing an effective line tension, which reduces the three dimensional problem to a two dimensional one. Static and dynamic correlation functions are in agreement with theory. The static correlation function displays anti-correlation in real-space, irrespective of the droplet size. Our real-space methodology may be particularly suitable in the study of membrane fluctuations and shines light on properties of extremely confined interfaces.

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