A PhD and a  Post Doc position available in the Prof. S. Dietrich group of theory of  inhomogeneous condensed matter in Max-Planck-Institut fur Metallforschung in Stuttgart.
 



• Project 1:
  "Criticality and wetting phase transition in  confined geometry"
  
  This project aims to investigate the finite-size effects  for critical phenomena and wetting phase transition in confined geometry. In particular, the  Casimir effect  in various critical systems will be studied  using  lattice models, field theoretical approach and renormalizaton group analysis. The predictions of the developed theory will be compared with
  existing experimental data for superfluid wetting films.
  
  
  
  
• Project 2:
  "Dynamics of wetting in confined geometry"
  
  This research project is  focused on several problems related to the wetting dynamics in confined geometries, e.g, across microscopic pores which appear in such systems as  biological membranes, carbon nanotubes or zeolites. A salient feature of wetting and transport in molecularly sized pores is that there is a dramatic difference between the diffusion of adsorbates whose size is much smaller than the pore diameter, and those whose size is comparable to it, being smaller only in a few
  times. In such systems, particles dynamics depends crucially on various cooperative phenomena, i.e. self-ordering or stratification,  as well as on the fine structure of the boundary which may be rough,
  contain inclusions of various types or chemically active species. Clearly, here standard hydrodynamic approaches fail to describe adequately both dynamics of individual, tagged molecules and global
  rheological behavior.
  In consequence, to get an understanding of the underlying physics
  and to produce an adequate analytic description, one has to resort
  to microscopic probabilistic approaches, taking into account
  stochastic dynamics of particles, interacting with each other and
  with the confining boundaries, which converge to proper equilibrium
  states.
  Using microscopic stochastic approaches  the following
  problems will be investigated, both analytically and numerically:
  - Early-time dynamics and particles penetration into the nanopore
  from a bulk liquid phase.
  - Equilibration of particles concentration at the entrance to the
  nanopore. Dependence of the equilibrium concentration on the
  interaction parameters and the properties of the solid.
  - Large-scale spreading of the particle phase within nanoporous media.
  - The impact of the surface defects on spreading dynamics.
  - Dynamical edge tension, internal pressure and critical behavior of
   spreading monolayers.
  - The nature of fluctuations in the advancing film's edge below and
  above the critical temperature of the liquid-gas transition in
  confined systems. Influence of the substrate's disorder
  on the fractal properties of the advancing edge.
  - Dynamics of dewetting processes in confined geometries.
  
  For more information please contact
  Dr hab. Anna Maciolek
  
  

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