As of now, we offer PhD-positions about the following topics:

• Geladene Kolloidale Gläser / Charged colloidal glasses

Colloidal glasses are well accepted models of atomic glass formers. In particular hard sphere glasses have been realized and extensively investigated in experiment, theory and simulation. We recently discovered a new class of colloidal glasses existing at low sphere volume fraction and stabilized by electrostatic repulsion. The project will focus on a comprehensive study of its properties under systematic variation of particle density and interaction strength. The student will employ state of the art light scattering and microscopy methods and head towards an improved understanding of the involved mechanisms of the glass transition and its competition to crystallization. The open PhD-position requires solid knowledge in at least two fields encompassing physical chemistry, colloid physics, microscopy, dynamic light scattering, and electro-statics. The student will be given a comprehensive training at the bench and exposed to state of the art research. The student will further benefit from all offers of the MAINZ graduate school. A typical duration is three years under close guidance within the school, attendance to summer schools and international conferences included. Payment is according to 75% EG13.



Optical appearance of colloidal solid with charged sphere concentration decreasing from left to right. The high concentration glass (left) is separated from the low concentration amorphous solid (right, containing non-settling ion exchanger splinters marked by arrows) by an extended range of concentrations in which the system crystallizes. T. Palberg et al. JSTAT 074007 (2016)