软凝聚态物质
We calculate the shear relaxation times in four important simple monatomic model fluids: Lennard-Jones, Yukawa, soft-sphere and hard-sphere fluids. It is observed that in properly reduced units, the shear relaxation times exhibit…
We present a locomotion mechanism that uses the stick-slip transition of a soft passive structure with an internal mechanical resonance. The structure is harmonically driven by a global vertical shaking and, because of its resonance…
Characterizing anomalous diffusion is crucial in order to understand the evolution of complex stochastic systems, from molecular interactions to cellular dynamics. In this work, we characterize the performances regarding such a task of…
Adhesion control at the interface of two surfaces is crucial in many applications. Examples are the design of micro and nanodevices such as microfuidics devices, biochips, and electronic sensors. Adhesion at the interface of two materials…
This study proposes a new fundamental formula that describes in a more coherent way, the rise and fall of liquids in capillaries. The variation of the contact angle classically associated with these phenomena appears to be the indirect…
Physical vapor deposition can prepare organic glasses with high kinetic stability. When heated, these glassy solids slowly transform into the supercooled liquid in a process known as rejuvenation. In this study, we anneal vapor-deposited…
We explore the effect of Couette flow on knotted linear polymer chains with extensive Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations. Hydrodynamic interactions are accounted for by means of Multi-Particle Collision Dynamics (MPCD). The polymer chain,…
Amorphous solids exhibit an excess of low-frequency vibrational modes beyond the Debye prediction, contributing to their anomalous mechanical and thermal properties. Although a $\omega^4$ power-law scaling is often proposed for the…
A model of sound propagation in a magnetized magnetic fluid containing ellipsoidal aggregates is proposed. The model quantitatively describes the geometry of the aggregates formed from nanoparticles. Expressions for the attenuation…
Friction experiments were conducted on hydrogel thin films sliding against a rigid sphere in a low velocity regime where molecular adsorption at the sliding interface sets the friction force, through a dissipative…
When placed in flows with local shear, flagellated bacteria commonly display reorientations towards the local vorticity direction, a chirality-induced rheotactic behavior of great importance for many biological functions. As the observed…
The modeling of the beating of cilia and flagella in fluids is a particularly active field of study, given the biological relevance of these organelles. Various mathematical models have been proposed to represent the nonlinear dynamics of…
Deployable structures, essential across various engineering applications ranging from umbrellas to satellites, are evolving to include soft, morphable designs where geometry drives transformation. However, a major challenge for soft…
Intrusions into granular media are common in natural and engineered settings (e.g. during animal locomotion and planetary landings). While intrusion of complex shapes in dry non-cohesive granular materials is well studied, less is known…
Azo-containing liquid crystal elatomers are photomechanical materials which can be actuated by illumination. The photomechanical response is a result of the photoisomerization of the azo moiety, which produces bulk stresses in the material.…
Entangled matter provides intriguing perspectives in terms of deformation mechanisms, mechanical properties, assembly and disassembly. However, collective entanglement mechanisms are complex, occur over multiple length scales, and they are…
Spatially varying alignment of liquid crystals is essential for research and applications. One widely used method is based on the photopatterning of thin layers of azo-dye molecules, such as Brilliant Yellow (BY), that serve as an aligning…
Self-avoiding walk (SAW) represents linear polymer chain on a large scale, neglecting its chemical details and emphasizing the role of its conformational statistics. The role of the latter is important in formation of agglomerates and…
We experimentally study the statistics of the transition path time taken by a submicron bead to successfully traverse an energy barrier created by two optical tweezers in two prototypical viscoelastic fluids, namely, aqueous polymer and…
We report on the frictional properties of thin ($\approx \mu m$) poly(dimethylacrylamide) hydrogel films within contacts with spherical silica probes. In order to focus on the contribution to friction of interfacial dissipation, a dedicated…