Acquisition of Instrumentation for Research and Student Training in Imaging Fast Dynamics in Macroscopic Disordered Media

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This IMR grant will enable the purchase of an ultrafast, high-resolution, video-imaging system for advanced imaging of fast motions in soft-condensed matter systems from a scale of microns to several centimetres. The physical systems worked on by the group of PIs include gels, colloids, crumpled membranes, granular materials, and multiphase flow in porous media. The unifying theme in this work is the study of non-equilibrium systems in which the elementary units are large compared to molecular scales. The underlying theoretical framework to deal with such non-thermal statistical systems is still in its infancy, however, with the appropriate instrumentation it is possible to perform detailed imaging of the dynamics of the individual macroscopic "atoms and molecules" of these systems in a way that is not possible in conventional materials. The video-imaging system will enhance the frame rate, spatial resolution and the length of data streams we are able to acquire. The increased frame rate will allow capturing fast dynamics, such as ballistic motions in highly excited granular media; the improved resolution will help resolve small motions such as thermal motions in caged systems and longer data streams will enable a search for rare but important dynamical events such as intermittent crack jumps and buckling events in stressed materials. The imaging system will also be available to other local users by scheduling time via a webpage. The users will be aided by graduate students, thus broadening their exposure to a broad spectrum of scientific problems. Many of the projects involve considerable involvement by undergraduate students and the new capabilities will afford them exposure to advanced techniques in a very visual branch of materials physics.This IMR grant will enable the purchase of an ultrafast, high-resolution, video-imaging system for advanced imaging of fast motions in soft-condensed matter systems from a scale of microns to several centimetres. The physical systems worked on by the group of investigators include gels, colloids, crumpled membranes, granular materials, and multiphase flow in porous media. These are all systems of immense industrial importance, however, they also present new basic scientific challenges in that they are statistically-sized systems with elementary units that are very large compared to molecular scales. The underlying theoretical framework to deal with such non-thermal systems is still in its infancy, however, with the appropriate instrumentation it is possible to perform detailed imaging of the dynamics of the individual macroscopic "atoms and molecules" of these systems in a way that is not possible in conventional materials. The video-imaging system will enhance the frame rate, spatial resolution and the length of data streams making it possible to study new phenomena. Apart from projects scheduled by the investigators themselves, the imaging system will be available to other local users by scheduling time via a webpage. The users will be aided by graduate students, thus broadening their exposure to a broad spectrum of scientific problems. Many of the projects involve considerable involvement by undergraduate students and the new capabilities will afford them exposure to advanced techniques in a very visual branch of materials physics.