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Session V4: Microgels: Colloidal Properties of Gels

8:00 AM–11:00 AM, Thursday, March 19, 2009
Room: 306/307

Sponsoring Units: DPOLY DCMP
Chair: Weitz David, Harvard University

Abstract ID: BAPS.2009.MAR.V4.1

Abstract: V4.00001 : Melting and Frustration in Temperature-Sensitive Colloids*

8:00 AM–8:36 AM

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Author:

Arjun Yodh
(University of Pennsylvania)

I will review experiments from my laboratory that employ temperature-sensitive microgel particles to induce novel phase behavior in suspension. This phenomenon offers a fantastic new variable for control of lyotropic suspensions. Recent experiments, for example, have enabled us to learn how three-dimensional crystals first begin to melt [1], to directly observe melting in 2-D wherein intermediate hexatic phases form [2], and to create geometrically frustrated colloidal ``anti-ferromagnets'' [3]. \\[4pt] References: \\[0pt] [1] Alsayed, A.M., Islam, M.F., Zhang, J., Collings, P.J., Yodh, A.G., Science 309, 1207-1210, (2005). \\[0pt] [2] Han Y, Ha NY, Alsayed AM and Yodh AG, Phys. Rev. E, Vol. 77 (2008). \\[0pt] [3] Y. Han, Y. Shokef, A. M. Alsayed, P. Yunker, T. C. Lubensky, and A. G. Yodh, ``Geometric frustration in buckled colloidal monolayers,'' to be published in Nature (2008).

*This work was supported by the NSF through grants DMR-0520020 (MRSEC), DMR-080488 and by NASA, through grant NAG-2939.

To cite this abstract, use the following reference: http://meetings.aps.org/link/BAPS.2009.MAR.V4.1