LRSM Team Creates and Understands Novel Chiral Microparticles

Helen Ansell, Dae Seok Kim, Eleni Katifori, and Randall Kamien are part of a team that studied the spontaneous formation of chiral microparticles with submicron features. The surface structure is stabilized by liquid crystalline order in the initial spherical droplets. Using a combination of analytic and computational techniques, the team established that the patterns on the surface corresponded to loxodromes — paths of constant angle with respect to the lines of longitude. The work, published in Physical Review Letters, is the latest in a string of interdisciplinary success by the IRG on Pluperfect materials. The LRSM has had a long history of mixing chemistry, materials, and physics and continues to do so.