Collective Phenomena
Fan-shaped texture (seen in the polarizing optical microscope) of a smectic liquid crystal, self-organized by rod-like organic molecules.
Collective phenomena in condensed matter are being studied by many IMPRS PIs with expertise in complex fluids, semiconductor heterostructures, complex materials including transition metal oxides and cold atoms. The concepts and techniques that are being applied to describe collective phenomena in these physically diverse systems share many common features. Recent examples are liquid-crystal phases and their quantum analogs, and phase transitions out of equilibrium. The IMPRS-CMS offers students working on these phenomena a forum to share their results and expertise.