Student visitors
We are delighted to host Carlo Marietti from the University of Milan. Carlo is here on the internship funded by Vienna Doctoral School in Physics that offers selected MSc students from inside and outside of Austria to be immersed in real world research with experts in their field for 2-6 months.
We’re excited to have him on board and look forward to the insights his research will bring!
Topic of research:
Probing fluctuation-induced forces in non-equilibrium fluids
Casimir forces emerge when fluctuating fields are confined, as seen between uncharged, conducting plates in a vacuum or in fluids near a critical point. Out-of-equilibrium fluids exhibit even stronger fluctuations, which theory predicts should generate remarkably large Casimir-like forces in confined spaces. However, measuring these forces experimentally remains a challenge. In this project, we aim to overcome this barrier by using advanced optical techniques to track the interactions of colloidal particles suspended in a complex medium with giant fluctuations driven by diffusion or thermophoresis. Our goal is to provide the first direct experimental evidence of non-equilibrium Casimir-like forces - offering exciting new insights into fluctuation-induced interactions in soft matter physics.
Roberto Cerbino
Professor of Experimental Soft Matter Physics
My research interests include Soft matter physics, living matter, cell biophysics and quantitative microscopy.