Realizing Symmetry-Breaking Architectures in Soap Films

Physical Review Letters, vol. 132, pp. 028201

Abstract

We show here that soap films-typically expected to host symmetric molecular arrangements-can be constructed with differing opposite surfaces, breaking their symmetry, and making them reminiscent of functional biological motifs found in nature. Using fluorescent molecular probes as dopants on different sides of the film, resonance energy transfer could be employed to confirm the lack of symmetry, which was found to persist on timescales of several minutes. Further, a theoretical analysis of the main transport phenomena involved yielded good agreement with the experimental observations.

Authors 11

1. Nidhi Kaul

   Uppsala University

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Chemistry, Ångström Laboratory, Uppsala University, Box 523, 751 20 Uppsala, Sweden

2. Luca Bergamasco

   Politecnico di Torino

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Energy, Politecnico di Torino, Torino 10129, Italy

3. Hongwei Song

   Uppsala University

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Chemistry, Ångström Laboratory, Uppsala University, Box 523, 751 20 Uppsala, Sweden

4. Thijs Varkevisser

   Institute of Physics · University of Amsterdam

   Affiliation as printed

   Nanotechnology and Microfluidics, Institute of Physics, University of Amsterdam, Science Park 904, 1098XH Amsterdam, The Netherlands

5. Agnese Amati Aachen

   Leiden University

   Affiliation as printed

   Leiden Institute of Chemistry, Leiden University, Einsteinweg 55, 2333 CC Leiden, The Netherlands

6. Gabriele Falciani

   Politecnico di Torino

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Energy, Politecnico di Torino, Torino 10129, Italy

7. Cees J. M. van Rijn

   Institute of Physics · University of Amsterdam

   Affiliation as printed

   Nanotechnology and Microfluidics, Institute of Physics, University of Amsterdam, Science Park 904, 1098XH Amsterdam, The Netherlands

8. Eliodoro Chiavazzo

   Politecnico di Torino

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Energy, Politecnico di Torino, Torino 10129, Italy

9. Indraneel Sen
   Affiliation as printed

   Wasabi Innovations Ltd., Boulevard “Shipchenski Prohod” 18, Block A, Floor 3, Office 9, Slatina, Galaxy Business Center, 1113 Sofia, Bulgaria

   Wasabi Innovations Ltd., Boulevard "Shipchenski Prohod" 18, Block A, Floor 3, Office 9, Slatina, Galaxy Business Center, 1113 Sofia, Bulgaria

10. Sylvestre A. Bonnet Aachen

    Leiden University

    Affiliation as printed

    Leiden Institute of Chemistry, Leiden University, Einsteinweg 55, 2333 CC Leiden, The Netherlands

11. Leif Hammarström

    Uppsala University

    Affiliation as printed

    Department of Chemistry, Ångström Laboratory, Uppsala University, Box 523, 751 20 Uppsala, Sweden