Brownian motion near a liquid-gas interface

By using digital video microscopy, we study the three-dimensional displacement of fluorescent colloidal particles that are located close to a water-air interface. Our technique takes advantage of the diffraction pattern generated by fluorescent spheres that are found below the focal plane of the microscope objective. By means of image analysis software, we are able to determine the spatial location of a few beads in a sequence of digital images, which allows us to reconstruct their trajectories. From their corresponding mean square displacements, we get the diffusion coefficients in the directions parallel and perpendicular to the interface. We find a qualitatively different kind of diffusion between the two directions, in agreement with theoretical predictions that are obtained from established models as well as our own proposals. Quite interesting, we observe the enhanced Brownian motion in the parallel direction.