Rotational tracer diffusion in binary colloidal sphere mixtures

We demonstrate that tracer/host size asymmetry and electrostatic interactions strongly affect rotational self-diffusion in binary mixtures of charged colloidal tracer and host spheres. Tracer diffusion coefficients, measured with time-resolved phosphorescence anisotropy, are compared with calculations of rotational diffusion including two- and three-particle hydrodynamic interactions. We also show that the inverse dependence of the rotational diffusion coefficient on the suspension viscosity is approached only at large size ratios.