Coupling Space-Resolved Dynamic Light Scattering and Rheometry to Investigate Heterogeneous Flow and Nonaffine Dynamics in Glassy and Jammed Soft Matter

We present a new light scattering setup coupled to a commercial rheometer operated in the plate-plate geometry. The apparatus allows the microscopic dynamics to be measured, discriminating between the contribution due to the affine deformation and additional mechanisms, such as plasticity. Light backscattered by the sample is collected using an imaging optical layout, thereby allowing the average flow velocity and the microscopic dynamics to be probed with both spatial and temporal resolution. We successfully test the setup by measuring the Brownian diffusion and flow velocity of diluted colloidal suspensions, both at rest and under shear. The potentiality of the apparatus are explored in the startup shear of a biogel. For small shear deformations, $\\gamma \\le 2\\%$, the rheological response of the gel is linear. However, striking deviations from affine flow are seen from the very onset of deformation, due to temporally and spatially heterogeneous rearrangements bearing intriguing similarities with a stick-slip process.