The group is currently seeking post-docs and students to work on the various projects we are involved in, which include:

• Topology and geometry in the lab – Ordered materials, like crystals or liquid crystals, in curved spaces, like the sphere or the torus, often develop an irreducible set of defects in the ground state; this results from the interplay between topological constraints and energy minimization. We are developing methods to generate surfaces with non-zero genus and are interesting in learning about the fascinating relation between topology and energy.

• Fluid mechanics at the micron scale – We use microfluidics as a means to generate emulsions and are particularly interested in understanding the physics behind drop formation. We are pioneering a way to make emulsions by coupling hydrodynamic and electric forces in micro-capillary devices.

• Soft objects – What are the properties of soft-particle packings? How does softness and deformability affect the macroscopic behavior of these packings? We are interested in elucidating this relationship, which is very relevant for a variety of applications. Interestingly, answering these questions implies thinking about liquid, glasses and crystals, phase transitions and viscoelasticity. We use light and neutron scattering, and rheology, to learn about the structure and dynamics of these soft materials in a wide range of time and length scales.