Dr Mamatha Nagaraj
- Position: Lecturer
- Areas of expertise: self-assembly, liquid crystals; polymers; colloids; symmetry breaking; soft photonics; opto-electronics; metamaterials; nanomaterials; organic electronics
- Email: M.Nagaraj@leeds.ac.uk
- Phone: +44(0)113 343 8475
- Location: 9.62 E C Stoner Building
Profile
2011: PhD, Trinity College Dublin
2012: Brunel Research Fellow of Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851, University of Manchester
2015: University Academic Fellow, University of Leeds
Research interests
I am an experimental physicist and the theme of my research has been to understand fundamental soft matter physics underpinning novel functional and responsive materials. The research topics we currently working on include (i) surface modification of polymers using liquid crystals as imprinting media, (ii) liquid crystals for beam steering applications, (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) design and understanding soft mechanical metamaterials and (vii) self-assembly and liquid crystallinity in copolymers.
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.
<h4>Research projects</h4> <p>Any research projects I'm currently working on will be listed below. Our list of all <a href="https://eps.leeds.ac.uk/dir/research-projects">research projects</a> allows you to view and search the full list of projects in the faculty.</p>Professional memberships
- Institute of Physics
- British Liquid Crystals Society
- International Liquid Crystals Society
Student education
- Physics -1: Mechanics
- Soft Matter Physics: Liquid Crystals