Transition path dynamics of a nanoparticle in a bistable optical trap

Abstract

Many processes in chemistry, physics, and biology involve rare events in which the system escapes from a metastable state by surmounting an activation barrier. Examples range from chemical reactions, protein folding, and nucleation events to the catastrophic failure of bridges. A challenge in understanding the underlying mechanisms is that the most interesting information is contained within the rare transition paths, the exceedingly short periods when the barrier is crossed. To establish a model process that enables access to all relevant timescales, although highly disparate, we probe the dynamics of single dielectric particles in a bistable optical trap in solution. Precise localization by high-speed tracking enables us to resolve the transition paths and relate them to the detailed properties of the 3D potential within which the particle diffuses. By varying the barrier height and shape, the experiments provide a stringent benchmark of current theories of transition path dynamics.

References in corpus (4)

• Dominant Pathways in Protein Folding
• Direct Measurement of Kramers Turnover with a Levitated Nanoparticle
• Transition-Event Durations in One Dimensional Activated Processes
• The mean shape of transition and first-passage paths

Cited by in corpus (10)

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• Experimental measurement of mean transition path velocities of colloidal particles surmounting energy barriers
• Transition path time over a barrier of a colloidal particle in a viscoelastic bath
• Precisely controlled colloids: A playground for path-wise non-equilibrium physics
• Timescales for stochastic barrier crossing: inferring the potential from nonequilibrium data
• Symmetry-controlled thermal activation in pyramidal Coulomb clusters: Testing Kramers-Langer theory