Run-and-tumble motion of ellipsoidal microswimmers

A hallmark of bacteria is their so-called "run-and-tumble" motion and its variants, consisting of a sequence of linear directed "runs" and distinct rotation events that constantly alternate due to biochemical feedback. It plays a crucial role in the ability of bacteria to move through chemical gradients and has inspired a fundamental active particle model. Nevertheless, synthetic active particles generally do not exhibit run-and-tumble motion but rather active Brownian motion. We show in experiments that ellipsoidal thermophoretic Janus particles, propelling along their short axis, can yield run-and-reverse motion, i.e., where rotation events flip the direction of motion, even without feedback. Their hydrodynamic wall interactions under strong confinement give rise to an effective double-well potential for the declination of the short axis. The geometry-induced timescale separation of the in-plane rotational dynamics and noise-induced transitions in the potential then yield run-and-reverse motion.