Berlin 2018 – scientific programme

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DY: Fachverband Dynamik und Statistische Physik

DY 53: Complex Fluids and Soft Matter (joint session DY/ CPP / BP)

DY 53.9: Talk

Wednesday, March 14, 2018, 17:45–18:00, BH-N 334

Inhomogeneous bulk phases in fluids with competing interactions — •Daniel Stopper and Roland Roth — Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Tuebingen, Germany

Using classical density functional theory, we theoretically study colloidal suspensions with so-called competing interactions, where in addition to a hard core interaction a short-ranged attractive force competes with a longer-ranged repulsive force. Remarkably, these kind of interactions can give rise to self-assembly into cluster phases without any external field. In particular, the clusters can form complex non-spherical three-dimensional periodically ordered structures [1,2]. For instance, it is found that the so-called Gyroid-phase can be thermodynamically stable - a structure which for instance is responsible for structural colors in specific types of birds or butterflies. Generally, besides the Gyroid-phase, several further types of structures can be stable including lamellar, cylindrical, or spherical micelles.

[1] Edelmann and Roth, Phys. Rev. E 93, 062146 (2016); [2] Stopper and Roth, Phys. Rev. E 96, 042607 (2017).