The Chair

The Department of Nonlinear Phenomena (ANP) investigates the physics of ordered soft
matter — materials that flow like liquids but carry internal structure that gives rise
to nonlinear, anisotropic, and often surprising physical behaviour.

Our systems of interest include liquid crystals, ferroelectric and multiferroic fluids,
colloidal and magnetic suspensions, and active biological matter. What distinguishes
these materials from simple fluids is precisely their order: orientational, polar, or
magnetic symmetry that makes them sensitive to electric and magnetic fields, light, and
mechanical stress in ways that are inherently nonlinear. Electrohydrodynamic
instabilities, nonlinear optical responses, elastic deformations driven by spontaneous
polarisation, and self-organisation in biological flows — these are the signatures of
the physics we study.

This places our work in a distinct niche within the OvGU physics landscape. While
other groups explore the dramatic nonlinear dynamics of isotropic fluids under extreme
mechanical conditions, we focus on the nonlinear physics that emerges from molecular
order and symmetry breaking in soft matter — a quieter but equally rich regime, with
direct connections to materials design, photonics, and biophysics.

Our group is fully experimental, equipped with polarising and multiphoton optical
microscopy, AC susceptometry, magneto-optical spectroscopy, and microfluidic tools.
We have recently established a Laboratory for Magnetic Fluid Dynamics in collaboration
with TU Braunschweig. We participate in microgravity experiments and maintain active
collaborations with the Jozef Stefan Institute, Merck Electronics KGaA, and partners
across Europe and North America.