Lennon: Field Theoretic Simulations of Diblock Copolymers
Mar
21
Fri 2:00 PM
When Friday, March 21, 2008
Time
2:00 PM - 3:00 PM
Where Tech M416
Contact Danielle Jackson
847-491-5586
Group McCormick-Colloquia Engineering Sciences and Applied Mathematics
Applied Math Colloquium
Title: Field Theoretic Simulations of Diblock Copolymers
Speaker: Erin Lennon, Univerity of California Santa Barbara
Abstract: From the clothes we wear to the computers on which we depend, polymeric materials are constantly improving our lives. As the functionality of these polymers is strongly correlated with their mesoscale structures, modeling systems at this level is vital to creating novel materials. For example, by varying the molecular weight and composition of various block copolymers, one can form a plethora of structures that have features on the micron scale with interfaces of only a few nanometers. This kind of multiscale model must be resolved if we expect to predict polymer behavior and, in turn, create useful materials. One method that has proven useful for this is a field-theoretic approach. This technique has been used successfully to study many models in the so-called mean-field limit. However, studies beyond this approximation have been hindered by the numerical complexities inherent to studying field theoretic systems with complex Hamiltonians. Current research aims to improve these field theoretic simulations by developing a suite of highly efficient numerical methods to study a range of polymer systems. Further, qualitative study of diblock copolymer phase transitions has been enabled by the implementation of a thermodynamic integration technique suitable for determining the free energy of such field-based fluctuating systems.
Title: Field Theoretic Simulations of Diblock Copolymers
Speaker: Erin Lennon, Univerity of California Santa Barbara
Abstract: From the clothes we wear to the computers on which we depend, polymeric materials are constantly improving our lives. As the functionality of these polymers is strongly correlated with their mesoscale structures, modeling systems at this level is vital to creating novel materials. For example, by varying the molecular weight and composition of various block copolymers, one can form a plethora of structures that have features on the micron scale with interfaces of only a few nanometers. This kind of multiscale model must be resolved if we expect to predict polymer behavior and, in turn, create useful materials. One method that has proven useful for this is a field-theoretic approach. This technique has been used successfully to study many models in the so-called mean-field limit. However, studies beyond this approximation have been hindered by the numerical complexities inherent to studying field theoretic systems with complex Hamiltonians. Current research aims to improve these field theoretic simulations by developing a suite of highly efficient numerical methods to study a range of polymer systems. Further, qualitative study of diblock copolymer phase transitions has been enabled by the implementation of a thermodynamic integration technique suitable for determining the free energy of such field-based fluctuating systems.
