The Hitchhiker's Guide to Differential Dynamic Microscopy

Fuente: arXiv
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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Lattuada, Enrico, Krautgasser, Fabian, Lavaud, Maxime, Giavazzi, Fabio, Cerbino, Roberto
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Lattuada, Enrico
Krautgasser, Fabian
Lavaud, Maxime
Giavazzi, Fabio
Cerbino, Roberto
author_facet Lattuada, Enrico
Krautgasser, Fabian
Lavaud, Maxime
Giavazzi, Fabio
Cerbino, Roberto
contents Over nearly two decades, Differential Dynamic Microscopy (DDM) has become a standard technique for extracting dynamic correlation functions from time-lapse microscopy data, with applications spanning colloidal suspensions, polymer solutions, active fluids, and biological systems. In its most common implementation, DDM analyzes image sequences acquired with a conventional microscope equipped with a digital camera, yielding time- and wavevector-resolved information analogous to that obtained in multi-angle Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS). With a widening array of applications and a growing, heterogeneous user base, lowering the technical barrier to performing DDM has become a central objective. In this tutorial article, we provide a step-by-step guide to conducting DDM experiments -- from planning and acquisition to data analysis -- and introduce the open-source software package fastDDM, designed to efficiently process large image datasets. fastDDM employs optimized, parallel algorithms that reduce analysis times by up to four orders of magnitude on typical datasets (e.g., 10,000 frames), thereby enabling high-throughput workflows and making DDM more broadly accessible across disciplines.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2507_05058
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle The Hitchhiker's Guide to Differential Dynamic Microscopy
Lattuada, Enrico
Krautgasser, Fabian
Lavaud, Maxime
Giavazzi, Fabio
Cerbino, Roberto
Soft Condensed Matter
Biological Physics
Data Analysis, Statistics and Probability
Optics
Over nearly two decades, Differential Dynamic Microscopy (DDM) has become a standard technique for extracting dynamic correlation functions from time-lapse microscopy data, with applications spanning colloidal suspensions, polymer solutions, active fluids, and biological systems. In its most common implementation, DDM analyzes image sequences acquired with a conventional microscope equipped with a digital camera, yielding time- and wavevector-resolved information analogous to that obtained in multi-angle Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS). With a widening array of applications and a growing, heterogeneous user base, lowering the technical barrier to performing DDM has become a central objective. In this tutorial article, we provide a step-by-step guide to conducting DDM experiments -- from planning and acquisition to data analysis -- and introduce the open-source software package fastDDM, designed to efficiently process large image datasets. fastDDM employs optimized, parallel algorithms that reduce analysis times by up to four orders of magnitude on typical datasets (e.g., 10,000 frames), thereby enabling high-throughput workflows and making DDM more broadly accessible across disciplines.
title The Hitchhiker's Guide to Differential Dynamic Microscopy
topic Soft Condensed Matter
Biological Physics
Data Analysis, Statistics and Probability
Optics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.05058