  Many wormlike micellar systems exhibit appreciable shear thinning due to
shear induced alignment. As the micelles get aligned introducing directionality
in the system, the viscoelastic properties are no longer expected to be
isotropic. An optical tweezers based active microrheology technique enables us
to probe the out-of-equilibrium rheological properties of a wormlike micellar
system simultaneously along two orthogonal directions - parallel to the applied
shear, as well as perpendicular to it. While the displacements of a trapped
bead - in response to active drag force carry signature of conventional shear
thinning, its spontaneous position fluctuations along the perpendicular
direction manifest an orthogonal shear thickening, an effect hitherto
unobserved.
