Diffusion of a nanowire rod through an obstacle field

We report the experimental realization of a rod diffusing in a two-dimensional obstacle field following the single rod dynamics. We use a silver nanowire as our rod and two types of obstacles: repelling light beams and polymer pillars. We study the effect of hydrodynamic interactions on the transport of the rod, comparing both experimental realizations and recent simulations. We propose a framework for analyzing the transport through such systems, and we predict a new superdiffusive regime of rod transport at high obstacle concentration and short times.