Slow dynamics in an azopolymer molecular layer studied by x-ray photon correlation spectroscopy

In situ determination of the structure and composition of Langmuir monolayers at the air/water interface by neutron and X-ray reflectivity and ellipsometry

This review focuses on the description of the structure and composition of a variety of Langmuir monolayers (LMs) deposited at the air/water interface by using ellipsometry, Brewster Angle microscopy and scattering techniques, mainly neutron and X-ray reflectometry. Since the first experiment done by Angels Pockels with a homemade trough in her home kitchen until today, LMs of different materials have been extensively studied providing not only relevant model systems in biology, physics and chemistry but also precursors of novel materials via their deposition on solid substrates. There is a vast amount of surface-active materials that can form LMs and, therefore, far from a revision of the state-of-the-art, we will emphasize here: (i) some fundamental aspects to understand the physics behind the molecular deposition at the air/water interface; (ii) the advantages in using in situ techniques, such as reflectometry or ellipsometry, to resolve the interfacial architecture and conformation of molecular films; and, finally, (iii) a summary of several systems that have certain interest from the experimental or conceptual point of view. Concretely, we will report here advances in polymers confined to interfaces and surfactants, from fatty acids and phospholipids monolayers to more unconventional ones such as graphene oxide.

Anisotropic and heterogeneous dynamics in an aging colloidal gel

We investigate the out-of-equilibrium dynamics of a colloidal gel obtained by quenching a suspension of soft polymer-coated gold nanoparticles close to and below its gelation point using X-ray Photon Correlation Spectroscopy (XPCS). A faster relaxation process emergent from the localized motions of the nanoparticles reveals a dynamically-arrested network at the nanoscale as a key signature of the gelation process. We find that the slower network dynamics is hyperdiffusive with a compressed exponential form, consistent with stress-driven relaxation processes. Specifically, we use direction-dependent correlation functions to characterize the anisotropy in dynamics. We show that the anisotropy is greater for the gel close to its gelation point than at lower temperatures, and the anisotropy decreases as the gel ages. We quantify the anisotropic dynamical heterogeneities emergent in such a stress-driven dynamical system using higher order intensity correlations, and demonstrate that the aging phenomenon contributes significantly to the properties evaluated by the fluctuations in the intensity correlations. Our results provide important insights into the structural origin of the emergent anisotropic and cooperative heterogeneous dynamics, and we discuss analogies with previous work on other soft disordered systems.

Stress breaks universal aging behavior in a metallic glass

Numerous disordered materials display a monotonous slowing down in their internal dynamics with age. In the case of metallic glasses, this general behavior across different temperatures and alloys has been used to establish an empirical universal superposition principle of time, waiting time, and temperature. Here we demonstrate that the application of a mechanical stress within the elastic regime breaks this universality. Using in-situ x-ray photon correlation spectroscopy (XPCS) experiments, we show that strong fluctuations between slow and fast structural dynamics exist, and that these generally exhibit larger relaxation times than in the unstressed case. On average, relaxation times increase with stress magnitude, and even preloading times of several days do not exhaust the structural dynamics under load. A model Lennard-Jones glass under shear deformation replicates many of the features revealed with XPCS, indicating that local and heterogeneous microplastic events can cause the strongly non-monotonous spectrum of relaxation times.

Thermal annealing of metallic glasses is known to cause a universal increase of the relaxation time with sample age. Here, however, the authors show how a mechanical stress disrupts this universal response, leading to highly non-monotonous structural dynamics with time.

Folding time dependence of the motions of a molecular motor in an amorphous medium

We investigate the dependence of the displacements of a molecular motor embedded inside a glassy material on its folding characteristic time τ_{f}. We observe two different time regimes. For slow foldings (regime I) the diffusion evolves very slowly with τ_{f}, while for rapid foldings (regime II) the diffusion increases strongly with τ_{f}(D≈τ_{f}^{-2}), suggesting two different physical mechanisms. We find that in regime I the motor's displacement during the folding process is counteracted by a reverse displacement during the unfolding, while in regime II this counteraction is much weaker. We notice that regime I behavior is reminiscent of the scallop theorem that holds for larger motors in a continuous medium. We find that the difference in the efficiency of the motor's motion explains most of the observed difference between the two regimes. For fast foldings the motor trajectories differ significantly from the opposite trajectories induced by the following unfolding process, resulting in a more efficient global motion than for slow foldings. This result agrees with the fluctuation theorems expectation for time reversal mechanisms. In agreement with the fluctuation theorems we find that the motors are unexpectedly more efficient when they are generating more entropy, a result that can be used to increase dramatically the motor's motion.

Wavelength Dependence of the Reorientation Efficiency of Azo Dyes in Polymer Matrixes

Irradiation with linearly polarized light of azobenzene-containing polymeric matrixes causes reorientation of azobenzene molecules. In this study, the optical light-induced anisotropy of amorphous poly(alkyl methacrylates) doped with an azo compound was measured at different temperatures and at two irradiation wavelengths. To describe a decrease in the efficiency of anisotropy formation with temperature, a model of molecule reorientation is suggested which includes the probability of molecule reorientation per one isomerization as a basic parameter. The probability of molecule reorientation was found to depend on irradiation wavelength. Comparing the anisotropy time profiles at different irradiation wavelengths, we concluded that, upon each photon absorption, the molecule most likely makes an attempt to reorient even without isomerization, i.e., the reorientation occurs by a mechanism predicted by Persico and co-workers in their theoretical works. Also, we infer that the reorientation is facilitated by the photon energy absorbed by a molecule.

On the use of two-time correlation functions for X-ray photon correlation spectroscopy data analysis

Multi-time correlation functions are especially well suited to study non-equilibrium processes. In particular, two-time correlation functions are widely used in X-ray photon correlation experiments on systems out of equilibrium. One-time correlations are often extracted from two-time correlation functions at different sample ages. However, this way of analysing two-time correlation functions is not unique. Here, two methods to analyse two-time correlation functions are scrutinized, and three illustrative examples are used to discuss the implications for the evaluation of the correlation times and functional shape of the correlations.

Hydrophobic Silica Nanoparticles Induce Gel Phases in Phospholipid Monolayers

Silica nanoparticles (SiNP) can be incorporated in phospholipid layers to form hybrid organic-inorganic bidimensional mesostructures. Controlling the dynamics in these mesostructures paves the way to high-performance drug-delivery systems. Depending on the different hydrophobicity/hydrophilicity of SiNP, recent X-ray reflectivity experiments have demonstrated opposite structural effects. While these are reasonably well understood, less is known about the effects on the dynamics, which in turn determine molecular diffusivity and the possibility of drug release. In this work we characterize the dynamics of a mixed Langmuir layer made of phospholipid and hydrophobic SiNP. We combine X-ray photon correlation spectroscopy and epifluorescence discrete Fourier microscopy to cover more than 2 decades of Q-range (0.3-80 μm(-1)). We obtain evidence for the onset of an arrested state characterized by intermittent stress-relaxation rearrangement events, corresponding to a gel dominated by attractive interactions. We compare this with our previous results from phospholipid/hydrophilic SiNP films, which show an arrested glassy phase of repulsive disks.

2D dynamical arrest transition in a mixed nanoparticle-phospholipid layer studied in real and momentum spaces

We investigate the interfacial dynamics of a 2D self-organized mixed layer made of silica nanoparticles interacting with phospholipid (DPPC) monolayers at the air/water interface. This system has biological relevance, allowing investigation of toxicological effects of nanoparticles on model membranes and lung surfactants. It might also provide bio-inspired technological solutions, exploiting the self-organization of DPPC to produce a non-trivial 2D structuration of nanoparticles. The characterization of interfacial dynamics yields information on the effects of NPs on the mechanical properties, important to improve performances of systems such as colloidosomes, foams, creams. For this, we combine micro-tracking in real-space with measurement in momentum-space via x-ray photon-correlation spectroscopy and Digital Fourier Microscopy. Using these complementary techniques, we extend the spatial range of investigation beyond the limits of each one. We find a dynamical transition from Brownian diffusion to an arrested state driven by compression, characterized by intermittent rearrangements, compatible with a repulsive glass phase. The rearrangement and relaxation of the monolayer structure results dramatically hindered by the presence of NPs, which is relevant to explain some the mechanical features observed for the dynamic surface pressure response of these systems and which can be relevant for the respiratory physiology and for future drug-delivery composite systems.

X-ray photon correlation spectroscopy studies of surfaces and thin films

The technique of X-ray Photon Correlation Spectroscopy (XPCS) is reviewed as a method for studying the relatively slow dynamics of materials on time scales ranging from microseconds to thousands of seconds and length scales ranging from microns down to nanometers. We focus on the application of this technique to study dynamical fluctuations of surfaces, interfaces and thin films. We first discuss instrumental issues such as the effects of partial coherence (or alternatively finite instrumental resolution) and optimization of signal-to-noise ratios in the experiments. We then review what has been learned from recent XPCS studies of capillary wave fluctuations on liquid surfaces and polymer films, of nanoparticles used as probes to study the interior dynamics of polymer films, of liquid crystals and multilamellar surfactant films, and of metal surfaces, and magnetic domain wall fluctuations in antiferromagnets. We then discuss studies of non-equilibrium dynamics described by 2-time correlation functions. Finally, we briefly speculate on possible future XPCS experiments at new synchrotron sources currently under development including studies of dynamics on time scales down to femtoseconds.

Controlling the dynamics of a bidimensional gel above and below its percolation transition

The morphology and the microscopic internal dynamics of a bidimensional gel formed by spontaneous aggregation of gold nanoparticles confined at the water surface are investigated by a suite of techniques, including grazing-incidence x-ray photon correlation spectroscopy (GI-XPCS). The range of concentrations studied spans across the percolation transition for the formation of the gel. The dynamical features observed by GI-XPCS are interpreted in view of the results of microscopic imaging; an intrinsic link between the mechanical modulus and internal dynamics is demonstrated for all the concentrations. Our work presents an example of a transition from a stretched to a compressed correlation function actively controlled by quasistatically varying the relevant thermodynamic variable. Moreover, by applying a model proposed some time ago by Duri and Cipelletti [Europhys. Lett. 76, 972 (2006)] we are able to build a master curve for the shape parameter, whose scaling factor allows us to quantify a "long-time displacement length." This characteristic length is shown to converge, as the concentration is increased, to the "short-time localization length" determined by pseudo-Debye-Waller analysis of the initial contrast. Finally, the intrinsic dynamics of the system is then compared with that induced by means of a delicate mechanical perturbation applied to the interface.

Induced cooperative motions in a medium driven at the nanoscale: searching for an optimum excitation period

Recent results have shown the appearance of induced cooperative motions called dynamic heterogeneity during the isomerization of diluted azobenzene molecules in a host glass-former. In this paper, we raise the issue of the coupling between these "artificial" heterogeneities and the isomerization period. How do these induced heterogeneities differ in the saturation regime and in the linear response regime? Is there a maximum of the heterogeneous motion versus the isomerization rate, and why? Is the heterogeneity evolution with the isomerization rate connected with the diffusion or relaxation time evolution? We use out-of-equilibrium molecular dynamics simulations to answer these questions. We find that the heterogeneity increases in the linear response regime for large isomerization periods and small perturbations. In contrast, the heterogeneity decreases in the saturation regime, i.e., when the isomerization half-period (τp/2) is smaller than the relaxation time of the material (τα). This result enables a test of the effect of cooperative motions on the dynamics using the chromophores as Maxwell demons that destroy or stimulate the cooperative motions. Because the heterogeneities increase in the linear regime and then decrease in the saturation regime, we find a maximum for τp/2≈τα. The induced excitation concentration follows a power-law evolution versus the isomerization rate and then saturates. As a consequence, the α relaxation time is related to the excitation concentration with a power law, a result in qualitative agreement with recent findings in constrained models. This result supports a common origin for the heterogeneities with constrained models and a similar relation to the excitation concentration.

Heterogeneous and anisotropic dynamics of a 2D gel

We report x-ray photon correlation spectroscopy (XPCS) results on bidimensional (2D) gels formed by a Langmuir monolayer of gold nanoparticles. The system allows an experimental determination of the fourth order time correlation function, which is compared to the usual second order correlation function and to the mechanical response measured on macroscopic scale. The observed dynamics is anisotropic, heterogeneous and superdiffusive on the nanoscale. Different time scales, associated with fast heterogeneous dynamics inside 2D cages and slower motion of larger parts of the film, can be identified from the correlation functions. The XPCS results are discussed in view of other experimental results and models of three-dimensional gel dynamics.