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Updated: Jun 5, 2026

Synthesis of Cyclic Polymers and Characterization of Their Diffusive Motion in the Melt State at the Single Molecule Level
Published on: September 26, 2016
Self-similar modes of coherent diffusion
O Firstenberg1, P London, D Yankelev
1Department of Physics, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa 32000, Israel.
Abstract:
Self-similar solutions of the coherent diffusion equation are derived and measured. The set of real similarity solutions is generalized by the introduction of a nonuniform phase, based on the elegant Gaussian modes of optical diffraction. In a light-storage experiment, the complex solutions are imprinted on a gas of diffusing atoms, and the self-similar evolution of both their amplitude and phase pattern is demonstrated. An algebraic decay depending on the mode order is measured. Notably, as opposed to the regular diffusion spreading, a subset of the solutions exhibits a self-similar contraction.
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