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THE GLASS AND JAMMING TRANSITION OF COLLOIDAL SUSPENSIONS
Subfield: Materials Science, Colloidal Systems, Glass/Jamming, Disordered Systems, Statistical Physics
Short description of possible PhD research proposal
When being compressed, colloidal suspensions undergo a
well-documented glass transition. At even higher packing
fraction the colloidal particle start overlapping: this is the socalled jamming transition.
Very recent theoretical development has led to precise
predictions regarding the physical and mechanical properties
of idealized systems soft sphere systems close to jamming.
However, no experiment has yet successfully investigated the
scaling regime of the jamming transition in colloidal systems.
The goal of the present thesis is to fill this gap; building upon (i) the expertise we developed while studying
glasses and jamming in granular media (ii) the recent acquisition of a ultra-fast confocal platform.
The thesis will take place within the context of a close collaboration with theoreticians from Ecole Normale
Supérieure.
Representative publications
[1] Candelier, R., & Dauchot, O. (2009). Creep Motion of an Intruder within a Granular Glass Close to Jamming.
Physical Review Letters, 103(12). doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.103.128001
[2] Chen, K., Ellenbroek, W. G., Zhang, Z., Chen, D. T. N., Yunker, P. J., Henkes, S., et al. (2010). Lowfrequency
vibrations of soft colloidal glasses. Physical Review Letters, 105(2), 25501.
[3] Coulais, C., Behringer, R. P., & Dauchot, O. (2012, February 25). Contacts Dynamics Reveals Widom Lines
for Jamming. Europhys. Lett.
[4] Coulais, C., Candelier, R., & Dauchot, O. (2013). The glass and jamming transitions in dense granular
matter. AIP Conference Proceedings.
Required background of the applicant
Good background in Physics (Liquid state Theory) and Physico-Chemistry. Good know how of micro-fluidics is
a good complement
ParisTech Grande Ecole: ESPCI ParisTech
Research group: EC2M - Collective Effects & Soft Matter
Website research group: http://www.ec2m.espci.fr/spip.php?rubrique2
Advisor: Dr. Olivier Dauchot ([email protected])