Conference Report

7th Ibero-American Workshop on Complex Fluids and their Applications

At the 2005 meeting, the workshop organizers expanded the focus by including new topics on liquid crystalline materials as well as new complex fluids. There were 31 participants, including 13 invited speakers and 12 poster presentations. Liquid crystalline elastomers and aspects of the nature of their phase transitions which are still not completely understood were presented by S. Zumer (Ljubljana). The dynamics of coupled fluctuations in near-critical polymer solutions and in a chromonic lyotropic liquid crystal near the isotropic-nematic transition were discussed by M. Anisimov (Maryland).

A novel application of liquid crystals was presented by A. Figueiredo Neto (Sao Paulo) on the nonlinear optical response from Low-Density Lipoproteins (LDL) studied by the Z-Scan technique by the Complex Fluids Group from Brazil. Patterns formed by Langmuir monolayer domains of a stable phase and their propagation into a metastable one, were discussed by R. Castillo (Mexico). The use of computer simulations and molecular-based theories to study the phase behavior and structural properties of ionic liquids and liquid crystals was presented by A. Gil-Villegas (Mexico). On the more theoretical side, the adsorption-desorption phenomenon in a nematic liquid crystal slabs was discussed by L. Evangelista (Maringá, Brazil) using a particular form for the kinetic equation at the limiting surfaces. Analysis that can be relevant to the description of the adsorption phenomena of neutral particles (dyes) as well as charged particles (ions) in nematic liquid crystals.

New ways to achieve chiral supramolecular H-bonded liquid crystalline structures and their chiroptical properties induced on achiral liquid crystalline polymers with a side-chain architecture or with a dendritic structure were presented by J. L. Serrano (Zaragoza). M. Parra (Chile) discussed the correlation between chemical structure and mesomorphic properties and the influence of different structural elements of the molecules on the physico-chemical characteristics of mesomorphic organic compounds through structural changes in the rigid core of the mesogens and in the lateral chains or groups. New results related to the formation of micro and nano patterns obtained with free thin flexible films (60-100 m) of cellulose and its networks were presented by M. H. Godinho (Portugal).

A. Jakli (Kent, USA) discussed DC and AC electric conductivity measurements on a prototype B7 material showing that the DC conductivity of the bent core fiber is more that four orders of magnitude larger than the conductivity of the same material measured in bulk. A huge difference that can be explained by considering the effects of polarization divergence to the conductivity of the fiber. D. Finotello (Kent, USA) discussed smectic liquid crystal configurations formed in the submicron size cylindrical pores of Anopore membranes which were determined by studies of spectral patterns obtained by deuteron nuclear magnetic resonance (DNMR) and revealed an anchoring transition.

The proceedings of the workshop will be published as a special issue of the Revista Mexicana de F ca. The 8th Workshop will be chaired by Professor Jos uis Serrano, from Zaragoza, in Spain, in 2007. Professor Rosal F. Rodr ez, from the National University of Mexico, was indicated as the new representative of the Ibero-American Liquid Crystal Society at the International Liquid Crystal Society for the next two years.

Date: September 2006

Rosalío F. Rodríguez
National University of Mexico

+ All Conference Reports