Experimental soft condensed matter group

Welcome to our group's homepage. In our group, we use soft matter to create model systems to study various physical processes. Specifically we are interested in organization processes, transport and non–equilibrium statistical mechanics. Most of our efforts lie in manipulating colloidal particles using holographic optical tweezers (HOTs), tracking them using video microscopy and analyzing their motion.
In the past we have used HOTs to create a 3D icosaheral prototype for photonic materials and have demonstrated their value in assembling nanowires. We have also used HOTs to create optical landscapes over which colloidal particles were driven. In these systems we studied transport in driven dissipative. Since we can observe the macroscopic behavior of the system as well as the microscopic behavior of the constituents, we were able to describe the connection between the two points of view.