Dynamics of individual colloidal particles in one-dimensional random potentials: a simulation study

Abstract

Using Monte Carlo simulations, individual Brownian particles have been investigated in a one-dimensional random energy landscape whose energy levels are selected from a Gaussian distribution. The standard deviation of the distribution determines the roughness of the noise-like potential and was varied in the simulations. After initialization, which was done by an instantaneous or infinitely slow (annealed) quench, the particle dynamics were followed. They were characterized by a number of parameters, such as the mean squared displacement, the time dependent diffusion coefficient, the non-Gaussian parameter, and the van Hove function. The dynamics exhibit different regimes: at very short times superdiffusion, followed by normal diffusion, and subsequently an extended period of subdiffusive dynamics due to localization within the minima of the potential, and finally, after a very slow approach towards the long-time limit, again diffusion with a significantly reduced diffusion coefficient. The long-time diffusion coefficient is consistent with theoretical predictions while no predictions exist for the intermediate times. Nevertheless, over the whole time range, the simulation results are in agreement with recent experimental findings on colloidal particles in a random potential created by a holographic optical setup.