THE STRUCTURE AND DYNAMICS OF "SOFT MATTER"

John W. White

Research School of Chemistry The Australian National University Canberra ACT 0200, Australia

The long wavelengths and low energies of "cold neutrons" make them an ideal tool for studying the structure and dynamics of "soft matter". This branch of physics, chemistry and biology spans the properties of polymers, biological macromolecules, self-assembling systems and the molecular aspects of structural biology. Of prime importance in neutron scattering is the use of contrast variation through isotopic substitution and most recently spin polarisation analysis. New developments in the methods of inelastic scattering allow the observation of motions with nano-electron volt resolution covering the time-scales from 10-7 to 10-13 seconds. The lecture will describe the use of the above methods to understand kinetic phenomena in:

• the microphase separation of polymer blends and copolymers
• the template controlled growth zeolitic materials
• the use of liquid crystal templates and a free surface at the air-liquid interface to mimic biomineralisation processes
• contrast in diffraction from biological macromolecules using spin polarised beams.

The lecture will draw from the most recent experiments and point to the ways in which it may be possible to control not only nucleation and growth, but also texture at the micron scale in biomimetic processes.