| | Dr Daniel Ratliff
~ Ordered by Design: ~
~ Coarse-Graining Tunable Micelles to form Quasicrystals ~
Daniel Ratliff's talk was about creating the physical conditions under which quasicrystals may spontaneously form, alongside a mathematical model explaining why. He works with “soft matter”; materials that allow particle interactions that deformed or structurally reorganise themselves under, for example, thermal or pressure variations . The technical accomplishments described were stunning; a blend of chemistry, physics, mathematics, and real world experimentation all focussed on producing these magical materials. It was exciting to be given a flavour of such cutting edge developments although also daunting to see the intricacies involved. For a paper that captures some of research presented I suggest Density Distribution in Soft Matter Crystals and Quasicrystals. Three of this paper's four authors were in the room; Daniel Ratliff, Alastair Rucklidge and Andrew Archer.
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