Understanding the complexity of some natural phenomena 麻豆精品 S� such as dynamics of cells, swarming of bacteria, or motion of animal groups 麻豆精品 S� long has been hindered by the lack of simple and pertinent experimental models. Now, researchers at the University of Central Florida have demonstrated an “all-optical’ model of living matter.聽
The research, published recently in Nature Photonics, shows that suspensions of tiny objects are affected by both thermal fluctuations and additional energy that can be controlled by light, thereby creating an artificial “active medium” that allows scientists to better understand its mechanical properties.
麻豆精品 S淟iving systems are typical examples of 麻豆精品 S榓ctive matter 麻豆精品 S� as opposed to passive matter, like common solids or liquids, 麻豆精品 S� said Aristide Dogariu, a professor of optics. 麻豆精品 S淎ctive media have unique properties that can be traced back to their constituents 麻豆精品 S� ability to convert additional energy, stored or imparted from the environment, into cooperative motion. 麻豆精品 S�
Dogariu was joined in the research by Kyle Douglass, a graduate student, and by Sergey Sukhov, a research scientist at UCF 麻豆精品 S檚 College of Optics and Photonics. Their work demonstrates a colloidal model for active media, where varying the amount of light controls the macroscopic properties and provides means for exploring the intricate manifestations of active matter.
Dogariu said there has been significant theoretical work during the past decade but understanding the complicated mechanics of active matter in biological systems is still unsatisfactory because of the lack of controlled experiments.
Eventually, such research 麻豆精品 S渕ay also open avenues for creating synthetic materials that could mimic properties of living matter, 麻豆精品 S� he said.
The next step of the research, funded in part by the National Science Foundation, will be for the UCF team to use their model to understand some of the statistical properties of this new kind of light-matter interaction and apply them for controlling mechanical aspects of cellular processes.