U.S.-France Cooperative Research: Structures and Defects in Lamellar Thermotropic and Lyotropic Soft Matter Systems

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

This three-year award provides support for US-France cooperative research on studies of the role of structural defects in lamellar thermotropic and lyotropic soft matter systems. The collaboration involves Oleg Lavrentovich of Kent State University's Science and Technology Center on Advanced Liquid Crystal Optical Materials and Maurice Kleman of the Marie and Pierre Curie University in Paris. Bernard D. Coleman of Rutgers University will also participate in this project. The investigators will study the role of defects in surface anchoring and light-induced structural transformations in materials. In addition they will investigate transformations and dynamics of defects under shear flow. A second goal of this collaboration is the writing of a textbook on soft matter physics for use in a chemical physics interdisciplinary program at Kent State. The US investigators bring to this collaboration expertise in structural defects in materials, theoretical mechanics, and rheology. This is complemented by French expertise in defects and lyotropic liquid crystals. The project will advance understanding of the structural properties of soft matter systems.