University of Waterloo
200 University Avenue West
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3G1
Phone: (519) 888-4567 ext 32215
Fax: (519) 746-8115
Soft matter is a cross disciplinary research field involving physics, chemistry, biology, and materials science. Dr. Chen uses basic tools such as statistical physics, field theory, neural networks, and computer simulations to study structural formation in polymers and liquid crystals.
Contact information
Office: PHY 367
Phone: 519 888-4567 ext. 45361
Email: jeffchen@uwaterloo.ca
Website: Jeff Chen, University of Waterloo
Soft matter is a cross disciplinary research field involving physics, chemistry, biology, and materials science. It studies physical systems that can be deformed relatively easily in response to external and internal physical and chemical conditions. Examples include colloids, polymers, gels, liquid crystals, and a number of biological systems. These materials compete with and sometimes outperform the traditional solid-state materials. Soft matter theory is a field that has seen vast new developments in the last half century, in both fundamental and applied research.
My research group has built a comprehensive soft-matter-theory research program that covers a number of challenging problems in polymers, membranes, and liquid crystals. The primary thrust is to establish a fundamental understanding of the structures, states, and dynamics of soft matter systems such as semiflexible polymers, as well as liquid crystals and their defect structures. The main research tool is statistical physics, which includes scaling theory, Monte Carlo and molecular dynamics simulations, and field-theory simulations.
Example Problems
Chen, J.Z.Y. Theory of wormlike polymer chains in confinement, Prog. Poly. Sci (2016) volume numbers 54-55, pp. 3-46.
Li, Y., Miao, H., Ma, H., Chen, J.Z.Y. Topological defects of tetratic liquid-crystal order on a soft spherical surface, Soft Matter (48) volume number 9, pp. 11461-11466.
Jiang, Y., Chen, J.Z.Y. Influence of Chain Rigidity on the Phase Behavior of Wormlike Diblock Copolymers, Phys Rev Lett. (2013), volume number 110, 138305(1)-138305(5).
Su, Y.C., Chen, J.Z.Y. A model of vesicle tubulation and pearling induced by adsorbing particles, Soft matter (20) volume number 11, pp. 4054-4060.
Meng, F., Chen, J.Z.Y., Doi, M., Ouyang, Z. The phase diagram and radial collapse of an inflated soft tube under twist, Soft Matter (35) volume number 11, pp. 7046-7052.
Please see Google Scholar for a complete list of Professor Chen's publications.
1988 PhD Physics, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, U.S.A.
1982 BSc Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
The University of Waterloo acknowledges that much of our work takes place on the traditional territory of the Neutral, Anishinaabeg and Haudenosaunee peoples. Our main campus is situated on the Haldimand Tract, the land granted to the Six Nations that includes six miles on each side of the Grand River. Our active work toward reconciliation takes place across our campuses through research, learning, teaching, and community building, and is centralized within our Office of Indigenous Relations.