Fluctuations in Dynamical Systems Far From Equilibrium

The workshop will bring together people from applied mathematics, dynamical systems, condensed matter physics and statistical physics. The theme are fluctuations far from equilibrium, particularly in stochastic dynamics. A focus will be on so-called fluctuation relations, which generalize the second law of thermodynamics to small systems. They have been found to be generally valid very far from equilibrium. This active, recent topic of research will be discussed both from a theoretical and from an experimental point of view. Cross-links to large deviation theory and to anomalous stochastic processes will be explored.

Programme

11.30 - 12.30 Ian Ford, UCL: A rough guide to fluctuation relations

14.00 - 15.00 David Carberry, University of Bristol: Fluctuation Relations: Experimental Demonstrations

15.00 - 16.00 Adrian Baule, QMUL: Exact relations in non-equilibrium statistical mechanics

16.30 - 17.30  Nicholas Watkins, Cambridge, UK: Anomalous Diffusion, Anomalous Time Series, and the models that describe them

All talks will be held in seminar room M103 (first floor) of the Department of Mathematics at Queen Mary University of London.

For more information contact Prof Ferruccio Renzoni

Paper in Journal of Quantitative Spectroscopy and Radiative Transfer

Our paper Evanescent wave optical trapping and transport of micro- and nanoparticles on tapered optical fibers has been published online in the Journal of Quantitative Spectrocopy and Radiative Transfer doi: 10.1016/j.jqsrt.2012.06.005.

From the abstract: We investigate the manipulation of microscopic and nanoscopic particles using the evanescent optical field surrounding an optical fiber that is tapered to a micron-scale diameter, and propose that this scheme could be used to discriminate between, and thereby sort, metallic nanoparticles. First we show experimentally the concept of the transport of micron-sized spheres along a tapered fiber and measure the particle velocity. Having demonstrated the principle we then consider theoretically the application to the optical trapping and guiding of metallic nanoparticles, where the presence of a plasmon resonance is used to enhance optical forces. We show that the dynamics of the nanoparticles trapped by the evanescent field can be controlled by the state of polarization of the fiber mode, and by using more than one wavelength differently detuned from the nanoparticle plasmon resonance. Such a scheme could potentially be used for selectively trapping and transporting nano- or microscopic material from a polydisperse suspension.