Reconfigurable chiral self-assembly Zvonimir Dogic , Brandeis University, DMR 0923057

1. Reconfigurable chiral self-assemblyZvonimirDogic, Brandeis University, DMR 0923057 Using multimode optical microscope developed with the MRI proposal, we demonstrates a novel method for controlling one of the most important properties of complex multi-component materials: interfacial tension. Using a model system of 2D colloidal membranes, we demonstrate that tuning the chirality of the constituent molecules controls the magnitude of a membrane’s line tension. This simple yet novel finding has numerous consequences. Most importantly, it outlines a new method for assembling highly dynamical and reconfigurable structures with complex and varying topologies and unique material properties. Using this methos

2. Science Festival at The Acton Museum for ScienceZvonimir Dogic (Brandeis University),DMR-Award 0923057 The members of the laboratory have participated in a one day science festival at the Acton Museum for Science. Amongst many other activities graduate students supported by the NSF-MRI grant have brought to the museum optical microscopes that enabled visitors to directly observe microscopic phenomena such as: swimming of microns sized organisms and diffusion of colloids. Furthermore, children where able to prepare their own microscopy samples and view everyday substance such as milk on a small scale, revealing a world in which Brownian motion drives erratic motion of all small objects. Please insert an image or group of images here to illustrate your broader impacts activities. If you need more space, you may reduce the adjacent textbox. Please use lettering that is clearly visible (i.e. not too small). Please include a brief figure caption.