Speaker: Andrey Sokolov, PhD
Staff Physicist, Materials Science Division Argonne National Laboratory

Abstract:
Active nematics are materials that consist of elongated motile particles that can convert environmental energy into mechanical motion. Examples include bacterial suspensions, cell layers, and mixtures of microtubules and kinesins. The synthesis and investigation of new types of active materials capable of converting environmental energy into mechanical motion are crucial for advancing non- equilibrium physics. In this talk, I will discuss various bio-inspired experimental models of active nematics and present a new fully synthetic active nematic system energized externally by acoustic field. An interplay between the elastic alignment of molecules and continuous perturbations introduced by active stress leads to a plethora of out-of-equilibrium phenomena that range from active turbulence and dynamic spatiotemporal patterns to the creation and annihilation of motile topological defects. Our findings introduce a novel approach for designing and synthesizing a diverse set of act!

Biography:
Andrey Sokolov obtained his Ph.D. in Physics from the Illinois Institute of Technology. After a postdoctoral position at Princeton University, he moved to Argonne National Laboratory where he received a Fermi Fellow position. In 2015 he was promoted to assistant scientist and became a staff scientist in 2017.