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BF03166751

The book 'Soft Matter Physics: An Introduction' by Kleman and Lavrentovich explores complex soft matter systems such as polymers, colloids, and liquid crystals, emphasizing their unique organizational structures and properties. It discusses the interplay between molecular and macroscopic concepts, phase transitions, and defects in liquid crystal phases, while also addressing practical applications in materials science. This comprehensive resource aims to unify the understanding of soft matter systems and is particularly beneficial for researchers and postgraduate students.

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9 views2 pages

BF03166751

The book 'Soft Matter Physics: An Introduction' by Kleman and Lavrentovich explores complex soft matter systems such as polymers, colloids, and liquid crystals, emphasizing their unique organizational structures and properties. It discusses the interplay between molecular and macroscopic concepts, phase transitions, and defects in liquid crystal phases, while also addressing practical applications in materials science. This comprehensive resource aims to unify the understanding of soft matter systems and is particularly beneficial for researchers and postgraduate students.

Uploaded by

Valentina
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Book Review

Kleman, M., Lavrentovich, O.D.: Soft Matter Physics. An Introduction. XXV, 637
pp. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York Tokyo 2003. Hardcover EUR 39.95
(excl. VAT)

Nowadays many researchers are concentrated on studying complex systems which


cannot be modeled as simple crystals with infinite translational symmetry o r a s
completely random structures of liquids and gases. "Soft matter" systems present
interesting complex systems of a condensed phase. What one calls soft matter
covers a large variety of condensed systems, in particular, polymers, colloids,
liquid crystals. These systems do not have the precise order of crystalline solids
and their structure is not completely random. All systems that fall under the name
of soft matter belong, with very few exceptions, to organic chemistry. The im-
portant feature of soft matter is the presence of some kind of organization of
molecules, of some kind of order. Organic molecules, including polymer mol-
ecules, have many configurations, these configurations might be energetically
degenerate; as a consequence, soft matter systems demonstrate very peculiar ex-
amples o f the presence of an order. In soft matter, the order is related to the
specific peculiarities of molecular shapes and entropy rather than to point sym-
metries of the crystalline arrangement of atoms. From the study of soft matter,
new concepts of the range of frustration, geometrical frustration, have emerged;
in many cases, a local or especially stable arrangement of atoms or molecules
cannot be extended far, because it creates too large intermolecular tensions.
Thus, soft matter is a hot topic in physics. But there is a lack of textbooks
which try to formulate a unity of the soft matter systems. This book is an at-
tempt to show the unity of the soft matter systems. A striking feature o f soft
matter is the specific role played by the mesoscopic range. Mesoscopic physics
is characte¡ by the interplay of molecular and macroscopic concepts (hydro-
dynamics, rheology, capillarity).
Properties of the soft matter systems are mostly determined by weak inter-
molecular interactions. In Chapter 1, a brief summary o f interactions between
molecules and between macroscopic particles is given. Soft matter physics is
condensed matter physics. Therefore, there are aspects of the soft matter sys-
tems similar with the "strong" solid states. In Chapters 2--4, there are included
developments common to the whole of condensed matter physics: atomic and mo-
lecular arrangements, the order parameter, phase transitions. It is noteworthy that
the authors have emphasized and discussed in detail that the order parameter has
564 Book Review

two characteristics: an amplitude and a phase (also called a degeneracy param-


eter). Both these parameters are illustrated for several systems: superfluid helium,
Heisenberg ferromagnets, liquid crystals, etc. When discussing phase transitions,
superconductor-smectic phase similarities are considered. Chapters 5 and 6 re-
late to possible static and dynamic distortions in liquid crystals. The expressions
for the free energy density for liquid crystals ate presented and are comprehen-
sively discussed. In media with continuous broken symmetries, such as nematic
liquid crystals, there is an additional class of hydrodynamic variables, namely,
the degeneracy parameters. The proper hydrodynamic equations are comprehen-
sively discussed. Chapter 7 is devoted to fractals and growth phenomena. Many
soft matter systems exhibit self-similarity within some finite range of scales.
Fractal concepts establish similarities between gr0wth phenomena (pattem for-
mation) in a variety of equilibrium (such as percolation) and far-from-equilib-
rium processes such as, e.g., diffusion-limited aggregation.
Several chapters (Chapters 8-13) cover the problems of line and point defects
in the various liquid crystal phases, as compared with classical strong solids.
Chapter 14 covers colloids. It presents an introduction to the problem of
electrostatic forces between rigid charged surfaces like plates and spheres and
their competition with van der Waals forces. This subject has been studied for a
!ong time. However, the problem of nonrigid, fluctuating surfaces has been ad-
dressed more recently. Two limiting situations are discussed in this chapter: in
the presence of a weak electrolyte, the electrostatic forces extend over long dis-
tances and weaken the fluctuations to some extent; in the presence of a strong
electrolyte, the charges are screened, and large amplitude fluctuations develop that
contribute to the repulsive forces between neighboring membranes. Chapter 15
covers polymers. The fundamentals of the behavior of a polymer in solution or
a molten polymer are introduced through the presentation of the scaling proper-
ties, which are the main characteristics of chains with a large degree of poly-
merization.
Soft matter systems have emerged as an important field from the point of
view of fundamental science and the point of view of practical applications of
these systems in materials science.
This book gives the conceptual means to classify the various types of singu-
larities of an ordered medium. It is shown that research in soft matter has ben-
efited from the transfer of concepts developed in strong solids. It is indicated
that concepts developed in soft matter have been transferred to the study of strong
solids or of biological materials.
This book will be very useful for researchers and postgraduate students.
K. M. Salikhov

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