What is Soft Condensed Matter
"Soft matter is a subfield of condensed matter comprising a variety of physical
states that are easily deformed by thermal stresses or thermal fluctuations.
They include liquids, colloids, polymers, foams, gels, granular materials, and a
number of biological materials"
(From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soft_matter)
Aim of the Course
The aim of the lectures is to introduce the physics of soft solids including polymers and colloids and to clarify the connections between liquid crystals, polymers and colloids.
Content
- Statistical physics fundamentals
- Phase transitions
- Percolation and Gelation
- Phase separation
- Polymer physics
(Chain statistics and the configurational entropy of chains. Block copolymers, Biopolymers, Crystalline polymersPolymers in solution and in melts. Rubber elasticity. The viscoelasticity of polymer melts and theory of reptation. The viscosity of polymer solutions. Phase separation in polymer solutions and melts.) - Colloids
- Liquid crystals
- Interfaces
(Membranes, Fluid vs. solid membranes, energy and elasticity, surface tension, curvature, de Gennes-Taupin length, shape transitions) - Amphiphiles
(Microphase separation in block copolymers and in solutions of amphiphiles. Aggregation and micellization of small molecules and surfactants out of solution.)
Literature
- Introductory Statistical Mechanics, 2nd Edition, by Bowley and Sanchez
- Structured Fluids, by Witten
- Introduction to Soft Matter, by Hamley, I.W., (Wiley) Chichester, 2000
- Molecular Driving Forces by Dill, K.A. & Bormberg S., Garland 2003
- Gases liquids & solids, by Tabor, D., CUP, 1991
- Soft Condensed Matter, by Jones, R.A.L. (OUP) Oxford, 2002
- Principles of Condensed Matter Physics P. M. Chaikin and T. C. Lubensky, Cambridge University Press, ISBN: 9780521794503
- Introduction to Liquid Crystals, by Collings, P.J. & Hird, M.
- Soft Matter Physics by M.Klemanand and O.D.Lavrentovich, Springer-Verlag (2003)
- http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Introduction_to_Biological_Systems_and_Soft_Condensed_Matter