Oscillating Modes of Driven Colloids in Overdamped Systems

Microscopic particles suspended in liquids are the prime example of an overdamped system because viscous forces dominate over inertial effects. Apart from their use as model systems, they receive considerable attention as sensitive probes from which forces on molecular scales can be inferred. The interpretation of such experiments rests on the assumption, that, even if the particles are driven, the liquid remains in equilibrium, and all modes are overdamped. Here, we experimentally demonstrate that this is no longer valid when a particle is forced through a viscoelastic fluid. Even at small driving velocities where Stokes law remains valid, we observe particle oscillations with periods up to several tens of seconds. We attribute these to non-equilibrium fluctuations of the fluid, which are excited by the particle's motion. The observed oscillatory dynamics is in quantitative agreement with an overdamped Langevin equation with negative friction-memory term and which is equivalent to the motion of a stochastically driven underdamped oscillator. This fundamentally new oscillatory mode will largely expand the variety of model systems but has also considerable implications on how molecular forces are determined by colloidal probe particles under natural viscoelastic conditions.
Comment: Accepted with Nat. Comm. (originally submitted version, complying with Nature policies). 10 pages, 8 figures