The group Weiche Materie (German for Soft Condensed Matter) was founded in January 2000. At this moment most of the laboratories are still under construction. The group will be fully operational in the middle of 2001. We are interested in properties of colloidal systems.

The aim of the research in the group Weiche Materie is to understand:

A few examples the many macroscopic non-equilibrium phenomena that colloidal systems exhibit are the formation of particle gels (a long-lived non-equilibrium state in systems of attractive particles at low concentrations), microstructure distortion due non-conservative external fields (like shear flow), non-linear rheological response, shear-banding (a flow instability, not to be confused with the well known Taylor instability) and phase separation kinetics (also under the influence of, for example, shear flow). Dynamics and microstructural order relate to properties of systems in equilibrium and include dynamics and structure in the bulk, in interfaces and near a wall, of both spherical and rod-like colloids, and the internal dynamics and structure of "polymer colloids".

For the research in the group Weiche Materie it is essential that model colloidal systems can be synthesized. A large chemical laboratory is under construction. Besides the synthesis of well known model systems, we plan to develop new colloidal systems, such as "rod-like diblock colloids" (where two different biological molecules are coupled) and soft rods (where polymers within a cylindrical microemulsion are crosslinked).

The various projects in the group Weiche Materie are (click on research for more detailed information):

• Non-equilibrium phenomena
• Structure and dynamics of colloids at interfaces
• Dynamics in equilibrium systems
• Equilibrium phase behaviour and structure
• Correlation between interactions and ordered structures
• Theory and computer simulations of colloidal matter
• Synthesis of model colloids