Physics of Soft and Partially Ordered Matter
Theory and Simulation Group
Theory and Simulation Group
Our research explores selected topics in the general field of soft matter, especially, focusing on complex soft materials, topology and geometry, active matter and bio-systems, soft- and bio-photonics, and their applications. Specifically, our main research topics include topological defects in soft matter, colloids and complex fluids, soft matter optics and photonics, active matter, dynamics of complex fluids, liquid crystal emulsions, protein aggregation in biopharmaceuticals, liquid crystal elastomers, interactions on spherical lattices and caloric effects in soft matter. The methodological approaches include macroscopic phenomenology, topology, and microscopic molecular modeling.
June 2026 - Peter Ropač received the Glenn H. Brown Prize from the International Liquid Crystal Society for his outstanding PhD thesis Design of complex material structures for light control. He delivered an award lecture at the International Liquid Crystal Conference 2026 in Quebec City, Canada. Congratulations!
May 2026 - Jaka Zaplotnik receives the Facebook Reality Labs Research Diamond Award from the International Liquid Crystal Society.
Congratulations! 🎉
March 2026 - Jaka Zaplotnik, Urban Mur and Miha Ravnik, in collaboration with researchers from the Jožef Stefan Institute, published a paper titled "Light control of lasing from liquid-crystal micro-droplet light switch" in Advanced Photonics. [Research highlight]