Phototaxis of synthetic microswimmers in optical landscapes
arXiv:1609.09814 · doi:10.1038/ncomms12828
Abstract
Many microorganisms, with phytoplankton and zooplankton as prominent examples, display phototactic behaviour, that is, the ability to perform directed motion within a light gradient. Here we experimentally demonstrate that sensing of light gradients can also be achieved in a system of synthetic photo-activated microparticles being exposed to an inhomogeneous laser field. We observe a strong orientational response of the particles because of diffusiophoretic torques, which in combination with an intensity-dependent particle motility eventually leads to phototaxis. Since the aligning torques saturate at high gradients, a strongly rectified particle motion is found even in periodic asymmetric intensity landscapes. Our results are in excellent agreement with numerical simulations of a minimal model and should similarly apply to other particle propulsion mechanisms. Because light fields can be easily adjusted in space and time, this also allows to extend our approach to dynamical environments.
10 pages, 7 figures
References in corpus (13)
- Novel type of phase transition in a system of self-driven particles
- Self-motile colloidal particles: from directed propulsion to random walk
- Physics of Microswimmers - Single Particle Motion and Collective Behavior
- Diffusive transport without detailed balance in motile bacteria: Does microbiology need statistical physics?
- Turning bacteria suspensions into a "superfluid"
- Green Algae as Model Organisms for Biological Fluid Dynamics
- Gravitaxis of asymmetric self-propelled colloidal particles
- Rectification of Swimming Bacteria and Self Driven Particle Systems by Arrays of Asymmetric Barriers
- Dynamic clustering and chemotactic collapse of self-phoretic active particles
- Nonequilibrium equation of state in suspensions of active colloids
- Colloidal motility and pattern formation under rectified diffusiophoresis
- Artificial Rheotaxis
- A steering mechanism for phototaxis in Chlamydomonas
Cited by in corpus (61)
- Tuning the motility and directionality of self-propelled colloids
- Dynamic Phases of Active Matter Systems with Quenched Disorder
- Conformation and dynamics of a self-avoiding active flexible polymer
- The Parental Active Model: a unifying stochastic description of self-propulsion
- Interactions in Active Colloids
- Brownian motion of a circle swimmer in a harmonic trap
- Self-Polarizing Microswimmers in Active Density Waves
- Light, Matter, Action: Shining light on active matter
- Collective Sedimentation of Squirmers under Gravity
- Active Colloids in Harmonic Optical Potentials
- Dynamics of active particles with space-dependent swim velocity
- Collective Dynamics in a Monolayer of Squirmers Confined to a Boundary by Gravity
- Quorum-sensing active particles with discontinuous motility
- Active Refrigerators Powered by Inertia
- Optimal active particle navigation meets machine learning
- Taxis of Artificial Swimmers in a Spatio-Temporally Modulated Activation Medium
- Self-propelling colloidal finite state machines
- Controlling cell motion and microscale flow with polarized light fields
- Shape-dependent guidance of active Janus particles by chemically patterned surfaces
- Designing, Synthesizing and Modeling Active Fluids
- Confinement-induced accumulation and spontaneous de-mixing of microscopic active-passive mixtures
- Magnetically powered metachronal waves induce locomotion in self-assemblies
- Optimal navigation of microswimmers in complex and noisy environments
- Using Active Matter to Introduce Spatial Heterogeneity to the Susceptible-Infected-Recovered Model of Epidemic Spreading
- Dynamics of self-propelled tracer particles inside a polymer network
- Diffusiophoretic design of self-spinning microgears from colloidal microswimmers
- Activated barrier crossing dynamics of a Janus particle carrying cargo
- Large scale Micro-Photometry for high resolution pH-characterization during electro-osmotic pumping and modular micro-swimming
- Clogging, Dynamics and Reentrant Fluid for Active Matter on Periodic Substrates
- Self-propulsion against a moving membrane: enhanced accumulation and drag force
- Hunting active Brownian particles: Learning optimal behavior
- Active Colloidal Molecules in Activity Gradients
- Optimal motility strategies for self-propelled agents to explore porous media
- Escape rate of transiently active Brownian particle in one dimension
- Chirotactic response of microswimmers in fluids with odd viscosity
- Motility-induced clustering of active particles under soft confinement
- Inertial self-propelled particles in anisotropic environments
- Colloidal Brazil nut effect in microswimmer mixtures induced by motility contrast
- Swinging Motion of Active Deformable Particles in Poiseuille Flow
- Mechanochemical Active Ratchet
- Optothermal pulling, trapping, and assembly of colloids using nanowire plasmons
- Future Directions for Active Matter on Ordered Substrates
- Recent Advances in Nanophotonics for Optofluidics
- Theoretical constraints imposed by gradient detection and dispersal on microbial size in astrobiological environments
- Dynamics of Deformable Active Particles under External Flow Field
- Active Transport of Cargo-Carrying and Interconnected Chiral Particles
- Patchy landscapes promote stability of small groups
- Cluster dynamics in macroscopic photoactive particles
- Nanoswimmers in a ratchet potential: Effects of a transverse rocking force
- Inverted Sedimentation of Active Particles in Unbiased ac Fields
- Bistability in orbital trajectories of a chiral self-propelled particle interacting with an external field
- Negative drag force on beating flagellar-shaped bodies in active fluids
- Active osmotic-like pressure on permeable inclusions
- A Data-Driven Statistical Description for the Hydrodynamics of Active Matter
- Noncentral forces mediated between inclusions in a bath of active Brownian rods
- Active chiral molecules in activity gradients
- Programmable transport of rotating particles in obstacle arrays
- Thermotaxis of Janus Particles
- Collective dynamics of macroscopic photoactive matter under alternating excitation patterns
- Viscotaxis of chiral microswimmer in viscosity gradients
- Efficient Optical Manipulation of Janus Particles by Optical Nanofibers