Dr Mamatha Nagaraj
- Position: Lecturer
- Areas of expertise: self-assembly; liquid crystals; polymers and elastomers; colloids; optics and opto-electronics; soft photonics; metamaterials and surfaces; nanomaterials; organic electronics.
- Email: M.Nagaraj@leeds.ac.uk
- Phone: +44(0)113 343 8475
- Location: 1.30E Sir William Henry Bragg Building
Profile
PhD, Trinity College Dublin
Brunel Research Fellow of Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851, University of Manchester
University Academic Fellow, University of Leeds
Research interests
I am an experimental physicist and the theme of my research has been to understand fundamental physics underpinning soft materials and devices. We work on a range of topics in soft matter physcs including (i) liquid crystals for augmented and virtual reality, digital optics and beam steering applications (2) surface modification of polymers using liquid crystals as imprinting media, (iii) fabrication of novel colloidal particles and soft matter topology, (iv) aggregation induced emission in polymers and liquid crystals, (v) liquid crystals of novel architectures and exotic mesophases, (vi) metamaterials and metasurfaces (vii) self-assembly and liquid crystallinity in block copolymers, etc.
We use experimental techniques including optical, fluorescent and atomic force and electron microscopies, super-resolution optical microscopy such as SIM, STED and STORM, X-ray scattering, dielectric, FTIR, Raman and photoluminescence spectroscopies, calorimetry, and direct write lithography.
Professional memberships
- Institute of Physics
- British Liquid Crystals Society
- International Liquid Crystals Society
Student education
- PHYS5016M – Soft Matter Physics: Liquid Crystals
- School of Physics and Astronomy BSc and MPhys study abroad co-ordinator