Soft Matter, Colloids and Interface

The course aims at providing fundamental knowledge in soft matter physics (broadly defined) to graduate students with interests in physics, chemistry, quantitative life science, mechanical engineering, and biomedical engineering. "Soft" matters are distinct from "hard" condensed matter in that the typical energy scale of the system is comparable to thermal energies, and therefore competition between energy and entropy is important for understanding the system. We will take a physics-based approach, and use major concepts in soft matter physics such as scaling arguments to discuss the structure and behavior of soft materials. Topics covered include: colloids, polymers, liquid crystals, low Reynolds hydrodynamics and interfacial transport, depletion/entropic forces. Select research topics in the frontiers of soft matter research, such as active matter and living matter, will also be presented.