Helfrich Repulsion and Dynamical Phase Separation of Multicomponent Lipid Bilayers

Stefanie Marx; Jörg Schilling; Erich Sackmann; Robijn Bruinsma

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.88.138102

Helfrich Repulsion and Dynamical Phase Separation of Multicomponent Lipid Bilayers

Stefanie Marx, Jörg Schilling, Erich Sackmann, and Robijn Bruinsma

Phys. Rev. Lett. 88, 138102 – Published 18 March 2002

Abstract

Thermal fluctuations of surfactant bilayers in an aqueous solution produce an effective, long-range repulsion that can lead to a continuous unbinding transition. We report on an optical interferometry study of the thermal fluctuations of multicomponent bilayers close to the unbinding transition. We find that, in contrast to the case of single-component bilayers, the thermal fluctuation spectrum of multicomponent bilayers does not agree with a continuous unbinding transition but instead indicates the proximity of an unbinding tricritical point.

Received 25 October 2001

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.88.138102

Authors & Affiliations

Stefanie Marx¹, Jörg Schilling¹, Erich Sackmann¹, and Robijn Bruinsma^2,3

¹Lehrstuhl für Biophysik, E22, Physik Department, Technische Universität München, James Franck-Strasse 1, D-85748 Garching, Germany
²Department of Physics, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90024
³and Instituut Lorentz voor Theoretische Natuurkunde, LION, Universiteit Leiden, Postbus 9506 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands