Anisotropic Brownian diffusion near a nanostructured surface

The Brownian diffusion of sub-micrometer-sized particles (diameter 0.52 microm) in the vicinity of a nanostructured surface was experimentally characterized. The surface consisted of a repeating pattern of rectangular grooves with depth 35 nm and pitch 400 nm. It was found that the one-dimensional particle diffusivity parallel to the nanogrooves was significantly higher than the diffusivity perpendicular to the grooves (1.518+/-0.274 (S.E.) microm2/s compared to 0.704+/-0.090 microm2/s). No such anisotropy in the one-dimensional Brownian diffusivity was found for particles near a flat surface.