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Stretching Short Sequences of DNA with Constant Force Axial Optical Tweezers
Published on: October 13, 2011
Force-extension curve of a polymer in a high-frequency electric field
1Department of Physics, 382 Via Pueblo Mall, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305-4060, USA. acohen@post.harvard.edu
Abstract:
We study theoretically the conformation and force-extension curve of a semiflexible polymer in a spatially uniform ac electric field. The polymer backbone minimizes its energy by aligning along one of two orientations parallel to the field. In a strong ac field, hairpin kinks develop between regions of opposite alignment. These kinks are mathematically described as sine-Gordon solitons. We calculate the equation of state of the one-dimensional kink gas, which yields the force-extension curve of the polymer. A sufficiently strong ac field causes the polymer to extend spontaneously to almost its full contour length. The theory is applied to recent experiments on dielectrophoretic stretching of DNA.
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