Workshops
RespoMat Workshop, Potsdam, Germany,30 March 2001 - 1 April 2001Organisers: Kjeld Schaumburg (DK) and Joachim Stumpe (D)
First Workshop held in Crete on 23 - 25 April 1999The second meeting of the network and the first workshop on Field Responsive Polymers was held in Iraklion, Crete from April 23 to April 25. The time and location of the meeting was chosen in order to "piggy back" the network meeting on the European Liquid Crystal Conference held at Crete 25-30 April
The workshop had 26 participants from 11 countries.
During the workshop 13 oral presentations were given and 12 posters presented.
The work presented dealt with the synthesis of funtionalized polymers of different topologies (branched, stars and dendrimers) as well as the investigation of the multitude of phase structures they may generate. The stability and inter conversions of the phases under influence of various fields was a key subject. The influence of light, static electric, magnetic fields and mechanical shear fields and combinations thereoff were reported.
Theoretical models for phase behavior were presented based on Molecular Dynamics, Force Field Calculations and Monte Carlo simulations were reported.
The work reported demonstrated close links in the research among the participants and this lead to intense debates and initiation of collaborations.
The time set aside for discussions and consultations thus appeared to be too limited. There was a general consensus that thew frequency of the meetings in the network should approach two a year.
In order to make the activities within RESPOMAT known to a wider audience the abstracts from the workshop will made public on the ESF web page.
