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Critical phenomena

Fluctuations caught in the act

Nature volume 404, page 352 (2000)Cite this article

Abstract

When a system approaches a critical point, strong fluctuations develop on every scale, from molecules to the entire system. Here we show that critical fluctuations in the domains in a lipid monolayer can be captured and measured by immobilizing it on a solid support and visualizing the pattern using atomic-force microscopy. Such fluctuations in physical properties may reflect the nanometre-scale domain organization in the lipid-bilayer component of biological membranes.

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Figure 1: Critical fluctuations in phospholipid monolayers imaged by atomic-force microscopy as a height-difference map.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby, DK-2800, Denmark

    Lars K. Nielsen & Ole G. Mouritsen

  2. Laboratory for Materials Science Department of Chemistry, CISMI, University of Copenhagen, Fruebjergvej 3, Copenhagen, DK-2100, Denmark

    Thomas Bjørnholm

Authors
  1. Lars K. Nielsen
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  2. Thomas Bjørnholm
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  3. Ole G. Mouritsen
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ole G. Mouritsen.

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Nielsen, L., Bjørnholm, T. & Mouritsen, O. Fluctuations caught in the act. Nature 404, 352 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/35006162

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