Objective This project aims at studying experimentally the out of equilibrium fluctuationsin strongly confined fluids. Three main problems will be analyzed :a) The effects on the dynamics when the fluctuations are confined in a volume smaller than the spatial correlation length; b) The fluctuations of the injected and dissipated power in out of equilibrium in highly confined systems, where extreme events may producean instantaneous ''negative entropy production rate''. c) Are fluctuations a limiting factor for application ? Might they be useful ?Our strategy is to enhance the role of fluctuations and correlations working close to the critical point of a second order phase transition. We will work at the critical pointof mixing of either a binary mixture of fluids or of polymer blends, whose microscopic time scales and correlation lengths are much longer than those of binary mixtures of simple fluids. The local measurements and the confinement will be realized using an original ultra low noise Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) developed in our laboratory. This AFM will be used in association with a near field aperture free light scattering technique, local and global dielectric techniques and evanescent waves imaging. This experimental set up, measuring local and global variables, will give new insight to two other interesting phenomena that are present in the critical regions : the finite size effects (such as dimensional crossover and time dependent critical Casimir effect) and the relaxation towards equilibrium after a quench at the critical point. These two phenomena have been widely investigated both theoretically and numerically butonly a few experiments have tried to measure directly the local fluctuations of confined fluids. Due to the universal nature of phase transitions the results can be applied to many other systems in which measurements are more complicated. Fields of science natural scienceschemical sciencespolymer sciencesnatural sciencesphysical sciencesopticsmicroscopy Programme(s) FP7-IDEAS-ERC - Specific programme: "Ideas" implementing the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities (2007 to 2013) Topic(s) ERC-AG-PE3 - ERC Advanced Grant - Condensed matter physics Call for proposal ERC-2010-AdG_20100224 See other projects for this call Funding Scheme ERC-AG - ERC Advanced Grant Coordinator CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE CNRS Address Rue michel ange 3 75794 Paris France See on map Activity type Research Organisations projects.administrative_contact Pascaline Toutois (Dr.) projects.principal_investigator Sergio Ciliberto (Dr.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window EU contribution € 2 376 117,00 Beneficiaries (1) Sort alphabetically Sort by EU Contribution Expand all Collapse all CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE CNRS France EU contribution € 2 376 117,00 Address Rue michel ange 3 75794 Paris See on map Activity type Research Organisations projects.administrative_contact Pascaline Toutois (Dr.) projects.principal_investigator Sergio Ciliberto (Dr.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window
