09 September 2026
For the second workshop (and fourth official meeting) of the ALCEMIST project, a number of us in ESMP as well as related other projects visited Eugene Terentjev's group at the University of Cambridge in the UK!
photo courtesy of Yosuke Pestana Nakamura
Along with our collaborators in Cambridge and at NOVA University of Lisbon, we presented our current/recent work and caught up with our collaborators.
photo credits: Miriam Fischer
In addition to the scientific discussions, we also took the opportunity to enjoy Cambridge and the surroundings, including the customary visit to a British pub.
Overall, it was a productive and informative visit, and we're looking forward to what's to come next in the ALCEMIST project!
/LWH/
30 January 2026
Congratulations to ESMP alumna Deniz Avşar and ESMP overlord Jan on their newest publication in
Advanced Optical Materials, "
Circularly Polarized Structural Color Pigments Tunable Across the Full Visible Spectrum"! In this work, inspired in part by jewel beetles, Deniz and Jan (though especially Deniz) explore the camouflaging of patterns sensitive to circular polarization by using cholesteric spherical reflectors. By color mixing and dye infusion, they achieved color combinations that are virtually invisible to the unaided eye, but become very apparent when viewed through circular polarizers (like some of the glasses used for watching 3D movies in 3D).
The article is open access and free to read; a great start to 2026.
/LWH/
19 January 2026
With the new year, it is our pleasure to now welcome two new ESMP postdocs and a new visiting scientist: Yvonne Zagzag, Amina Alizade, and Mónica Arenas Correa!
Yvonne is a recently graduated Physics Ph.D. who joins us from Prof. Chinedum Osuji's group at the University of Pennsylvania. She joins us within the ALCEMIST project as a postdoc working at the intersection of theory and experiments, combining her theoretical knowhow with the many experiments in the project (and especially on fluid flow).
Originally from Georgia (the country), Amina joins us after her Ph.D. research in the group of Dr. Anne Jantschke at the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, Germany, where she worked with cellulose extracted from dinoflagellates. Her role will be as the main chemist on the ALCEMIST project, working to develop the chemical tools and protocols to create cellulose-based liquid crystal elastomeric materials.
Mónica is the CEO of our spin-off company Trace Crystal and has joined ESMP in the framework of an FNR Industrial Fellowship as a visiting scientist to work further on developing the technology fueling the innovations at the company. (Hakam will still be with us, but in a different role.)
Häerzlech Wëllkomm!
/LWH/
16 December 2024
We are delighted to share that Jan's project BriCE (Novel Concrete
Bridge Spatially-Distributed Monitoring Through
Chromatic Liquid Crystal
Elastomers), a collaboration with Dr. Numa Bertola of the
Sustainable Concrete Structures group at the University of Luxembourg, was just funded by the University of Luxembourg
Institute for Advanced Studies! This four-year project will investigate further use of our mechanochromic liquid crystal elastomers to monitor the structural health of bridges, detecting cracks and failures as early as possible.
Not from BriCE, but from our recent publication with Danièle Waldmann-Schmidt's group on using mechanochromic LCEs for monitoring crack formation in concrete
Even more good news to end the year; stay tuned for further updates!
\LWH\
13 March 2015
On the 12th of March 2015 the European Research Council (ERC)
publicized the list of this year's Consolidator Grant winners, making it official that Jan's proposal INTERACT was selected for support. The support means that for the next five years the Experimental Soft Matter Physics group will be working very actively on wearable technology, soft robotics and innovative techniques for secure authentication. As the project gets going (current projected starting date is 1st of April 2015) there will be many updates.
01 February 2015
Today is the start of the project MISONANCE, a joint research thrust with the Theory of Soft Condensed Matter Physics group, lead by Tanja Schilling, funded within the CORE scheme of the Fonds National de la Recherche Luxembourg (FNR). The project deals with the balance between liquid crystalline self-assembly and glass formation in suspensions of cellulose nanocrystals, and the preparation of photonic crystal films based on this new bionanomaterial. The project is Jan's first large-scale project on cellulose and it will continue the excellent collaboration with the group of Prof. Lennart Bergström at Stockholm University (non-contracting partner). The theme of MISONANCE is largely the issues discussed in our review article published in NPG Asia Materials last year (the picture is from this open-access paper, which you can
download free of charge and without subscription here).
