CAREER - Random Disorder in Phase Transitions of Complex Fluids

本项目旨在研究在液晶和聚合物表面之间的界面上发生的有序（或无序）相互作用的本质。它将包括对液晶和介系聚合物的改性相变的系统调查，以了解以限制多孔介质或胶体分散形式存在的非介系材料引起的扰动的影响。将研究与这些扰动相关的拓扑或随机性的作用，并讨论随机性和边界条件对诱导弹性变形的影响。考虑到这个项目的实验挑战，新的光谱工具将被开发出来，以推进研究广泛系统所必需的量热技术。液晶材料对实际应用领域很重要，包括光学显示器和通信开关，以及生物医学领域，如开发用于药物输送的新材料。在这些领域受过训练的学生很可能在未来的就业市场上具有很强的竞争力。

This project aims to study the nature of ordering (or disordering) interactions occuring at the interface between liquid crystals and polymeric surfaces. It will involve a systematic survey of modified phase transitions of liquid crystals and mesogenic polymers to understand the influence of the perturbations caused by the non-mesogenic material in the form of confining porous media or as colloidal dispersions. The role of topology or randomness connected with these perturbations will be studied, and the influence of randomness and boundary conditions with induced elastic deformation will be addressed. Given the experimental challenges of this project, new spectroscopic tools needed to advance calorimetric techniques necessary for studying the wide range of systems under investigation will be developed. Liquid crystal materials are important to practical applications areas that include optical displays and switches for communications, and biomedical areas such as the development of new materials classes for drug delivery. Students trained in these areas are likely to be highly competitive in future job markets.