U.S.-France Cooperative Research: Structure of Smectic Blue Phases

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9910017KamienThis three-year award for U.S.-France collaboration in materials research involves Randall D. Kamien, a postdoctoral researcher and graduate students at the University of Pennsylvania and Brigitte Pansu and her students at the University of Paris, South. The investigators propose to study liquid crystalline phases and phase transitions, in particular, a state of matter known as blue phases with smectic order. Theorists and experimentalists are studying blue smectic phases for their dramatic structure, high degree of structural order, and mechanical properties. The collaboration brings together U.S. theorists with French experimentalists. It will focus on the structure and properties of blue phases and the smectic structure. New phases of matter, including smectic blue phases, are important for their use as templates for nano- and micro-fabrication of technologically interesting materials, including those with optoelectronic properties.This award represents the U.S. side of a joint proposal to the NSF and the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS). NSF will cover travel funds and living expenses for the U.S. investigators, postdoctoral researcher, and graduate students. The CNRS will support the visits of the French researchers to the United States.