Controlling the dynamics of active colloidal liquid crystals by external fields

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Raphael Wittkowski
• Subject Area: Statistical Physics, Nonlinear Dynamics, Complex Systems, Soft and Fluid Matter, Biological Physics
• Term: from 2016 to 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 283183152

In its past years of funding within the Emmy Noether programme, the research project was very successful. The research on active colloidal particles and suspensions of active colloidal particles including active colloidal liquid crystals, how their dynamics is affected by external fields, and how such fields can be used to control their dynamics, has already resulted in several publications, comprising articles and software, as well as a patent application. Some publications appeared in high-impact journals and resulted in large press coverage. A few of our results open up important new directions of research that should be further pursued by separate projects in the future. These new directions include the investigation of colloidal particles with orientation-dependent motility.This writing proposes an additional subproject for a 6th year of funding that aims at pursuing one of the new directions of research that arose during the previous research on the original project. In the 6th year of funding, active colloidal liquid crystals with orientation-dependent motility shall be investigated. The new subproject aims at studying the collective dynamics of active colloidal liquid crystals and mixtures of different types of active colloidal liquid crystals with an orientation-dependent motility, the effect of external fields on their collective dynamics, and how such fields can be used to control the dynamics. The research will be performed by applying analytical methods of theoretical physics as well as computer simulations.

• DFG Programme: Independent Junior Research Groups