Addressing soft matter: From organized monolayers to actuated colloids

In this presentation I will revise briefly some scenarios of dynamic
self-organization in soft matter-like systems. Essentially I will refer
to air/water (Langmuir) monolayers, colloids and mixed systems of the
two previous materials with liquid crystals. On what respects to
Langmuir monolayers I will report on a recent experimental demonstration
of selection of chiral symmetry at the level of molecular assemblies at
the microscale under controlled shearing. The propagation of such
orientational patterns into a liquid crystal matrix will be also
discussed, emphasizing the role of escaped defects. On what refers to
colloids, I will concentrate on the behavior of actuated paramagnetic
colloids, either driven on structured magnetic substrates or forced to
precess close to a bounding support. In the first situation I will
analyze a situation of giant diffusivity in ratchetted particles, while
emphasis will be given to directed and controlled transport in the
second case. Finally I will mention the discovered possibility to break
the orientation degeneration of liquid crystal cells by using dispersed
anisometric paramagnetic colloids.