Abstract
Examining the rotational diffusion of a microparticle suspended in a soft material opens up exciting new opportunities for locally probing the frequency-dependent linear viscoelastic shear modulus, . We study the one-dimensional rotational diffusion of a wax microdisk in an aqueous polymer entanglement network using light streak tracking. By measuring the disk’s time-dependent mean square angular displacement, , we predict the polymer solution’s using a rotational generalized Stokes-Einstein relation. The good agreement of the predicted modulus with mechanical measurements confirms this new microrheological approach.
- Received 13 June 2002
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.90.018304
©2003 American Physical Society