Physics Colloquium

Arjun G. Yodh

James M. Skinner Professor of Science
Department of Physics and Astronomy
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6396

“Transformation and Relaxation of Soft Materials”

Abstract:

I will describe experiments that probe phase transitions, shape transformations, and relaxation phenomena in colloid solids and supercooled liquids, and in liquid crystal drops. Experiments with colloids capture the mechanisms that facilitate solid-solid phase transitions [1]. A second set of colloid experiments elucidates the origin of non-exponential relaxation in supercooled liquids [2]. Lastly, experiments with drops containing liquid crystal oligomers exhibit remarkable shape transitions.

[1] Peng, Y., Wang, F., Wang, Z., Alsayed, A.M., Zhang, Z., Yodh, A.G., Han, Y., Nature Materials 14, 10, 2015.

[2] Ma, X., Davidson, Z., Still, T., Ivancic, R., Schoenholz, S.S., Liu, A.J., Yodh, A.G., PRL 122, 028001 (2019).

Arjun G. Yodh is the James M. Skinner Professor of Science and the Director of The Laboratory for Research on the Structure of Matter (LRSM) and its NSF-supported Materials Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) at the University of Pennsylvania. Physics & Astronomy is his home department; he has a secondary appointment in the Department of Radiation Oncology in the Medical School, and he is a member of the Bioengineering Graduate Group