Abstract
We exploit the strong optical anisotropy of metal nanorods to measure their mobility in a complex fluid. Gold rods in hot agarose solutions cause dynamic, depolarized scattering with an exponentially decaying autocorrelation. As the solution cools down, its decay constant increases. At a certain temperature, the autocorrelation drastically changes its shape and the dynamic contrast drops. We show that, at this temperature, the gelling liquid confines the rods and dampens their motion almost entirely. Depolarized scattering proves to be extraordinarily sensitive to the transition from Brownian to confined motion. We calculate true mobilities for the particles using Pusey and van Megen’s correction of the Siegert relation for nonergodic systems. Multipoint measurements show that the rods are immobilized throughout the gel.
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