A model-system of Fickian yet non-Gaussian diffusion: light patterns in place of complex matter
Raffaele Pastore, Antonio Ciarlo, Giuseppe Pesce, Antonio Sasso, Francesco Greco
Abstract
for increasing the optical power. Deviations from the standard Gaussian shape of the displacement distribution are neatly characterized on a broad range of times, focusing on the excess probability at small displacements and on the decay-length of the distinctive exponential tails. Such deviations are fully built in the subdiffusive regime and, at the FnGD onset, grow with the optical power. As time goes on, the small-displacement probability narrows and the exponential tails progressively break up, with a tendency to recover the Gaussian behaviour. Overall, both subdiffusion and FnGD become more marked and persistent on increasing the optical power, suggesting a strict relation between these two regimes. As clearly demonstrated by our results, the adopted model-system represents a privileged stage for in-depth study of FnGD and opens the way to unveil the nature of this phenomenon through finely tuned and well-controlled experiments.