TRACKING OF COLLOIDAL PARTICLES USING MICROSCOPIC IMAGE SEQUENCE-ANALYSIS - APPLICATION TO PARTICULATE MICROELECTROPHORESIS AND PARTICLE DEPOSITION

A method for colloidal particle tracking in microscopic video image se quences is presented, based upon minimization of a matrix containing t he distances between predicted and measured particle positions within a field of view. The software required for particle tracking can be ea sily implemented in applications where microscopic images are recorded with an imaging system, usually consisting of a video camera, a frame grabber computer card and a personal computer. Two applications of int erest in colloid and surface science are described. In particulate mic roelectrophoresis the method can be used to determine the particle vel ocity distribution in a fully observer independent fashion from micros copic images of colloidal particles moving in an applied electric fiel d. In colloidal particle deposition to collector surfaces, the method can be used to measure resident time dependent desorption of adhering colloidal particles. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.