Experimental Soft Matter Physics

As our group name reveals, we do experimental research on various types of soft matter, primarily liquid crystals, colloids and polymers.

Our interests span from phenomena that are intriguing from a fundamental physics point of view (for instance interactions between topological defects, pattern formation driven by phase transitions and the balance between tendencies to jamming and ordering in concentrated colloidal suspensions) to materials and processes that have strong potential for being applied in future and emerging technologies (for instance actuating rubbers, composites with sensing capacity requiring no electric power and working at room temperature, or textiles that convert mechanical to electrical energy). In particular the latter activities have a strongly interdisciplinary character, involving collaborations with e.g. artists, designers and robotics engineers. The breadth of our research field makes collaborations across disciplines highly beneficial also when addressing more fundamental issues, and we thus work closely with chemists and materials scientists, with theoreticians as well as other experimentalists.

The group is highly international and multicultural, its leader, Prof. Jan Lagerwall, being of Swedish origin and having long experience of living and working in Germany as well as in South Korea. Very beneficial is also our well-developed international network, involving active collaborations with USA, Japan, South Korea, Germany, Sweden and other countries. Group members currently represent Europe and Asia, with North America soon to be added. We hope that the international representation breadth will grow further in the future.

You can read more about our research, publications, teaching and outreach activities in our group web site, which is continuously updated. There you can also find an introduction to the concept soft matter, including a motivation why this is a fascinating class of matter to study.