Hot Brownian Motion of Thermoresponsive Microgels in Optical Tweezers Shows Discontinuous Volume Phase Transition and Bistability.

Microgels are soft microparticles that often exhibit thermoresponsiveness and feature a transformation at a critical temperature, referred to as the volume phase transition temperature. Whether this transformation occurs as a smooth or as a discontinuous one is still a matter of debate. This question can be addressed by studying individual microgels trapped in optical tweezers.