We measure the dynamic structure factor (DSF) of probe particles embedded in an aging laponite suspension quenched by cessation of shear and the associated relaxation time tau as a function of wave vector q and aging time t(w). The different q dependences measured in the successive exponential and full aging regimes, respectively, tau approximately q(-2) and tau approximately q(-1.25), yield a weak positive q dependence for the aging time t(wc) corresponding to the crossover between the two regimes. This implies that the full aging behavior is first seen when investigating large length scales in the aging suspension. We propose a qualitative diagram of the aging dynamics and discuss the features of the DSF of the probes and of the matrix in the two aging regimes. Consistently with the idea that the full aging regime is first observed when probing large length scales, t(wc) is markedly shorter when the motion of the probes is tracked instead of the collective fluctuations of concentration in the matrix. The exponential aging regime is most probably related to the liquid-glass transition induced by the cessation of shear rather than to the aging of a glass.

We have measured the mean-square displacement of colloidal particles embedded in a semi-dilute solution of worm-like micelles, using diffusing wave spectroscopy. This allowed us to describe their rheological properties over a very wide time range. At very short times, the particles diffuse freely in the solvent, and then, they experience the characteristic relaxation times of the living chains. We deduced directly, from the mean-square displacement of the particles, the mechanical properties of the micellar solution, not only in the high-frequency regime, but also in the low-frequency range, in which we compared our results with direct mechanical measurements, and found good agreement.

The salt aqueous solution properties of a low charge density polyampholyte terpolymer with a balanced stoichiometry of charges were investigated by static and dynamic light scattering. At high ionic strength, the sample is entirely soluble and the chains exhibit an excluded volume conformation. When the salt content is lowered, part of the sample precipitates, leaving in the supernatant highly swollen chaing. The rmulta are interpreted by assuming that, due to different reactivity ratios of the monomers, there is adistribution of the net charges among the polymer chains. By varying the salt content, one performs a fractionation of the polyampholyte chains according to their net charge.

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Using neutron and high-resolution X-ray scattering, the repeating distances of dilute lyotropic lamellar phases have been measured as a function of the membrane volume fraction, for several ternary or quaternary systems. In the case of systems dominated by undulation forces, a systematic logarithmic deviation is observed. It is attributed to the excess area coming from the undulations. A method for measuring the membrane bending elastic constant K is proposed.

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We investigate here the swollen lamellar phase Lα and the anomalous isotropic (sponge) phase L3 of the ternary system AOT/brine using neutron and light scattering. We first measure the excess area of bilayers from the deviations to the simple swelling behavior and so obtain an evaluation of the mean curvature rigidity K of the bilayers. K is found quite high K ≈3 kB T and is basically the same in both Lα and L3. Correspondingly, the persistence length ξK of the bilayer is of the order of 106 ${\rm Å}$ so that the samples are in the “semi-rigid regime” at all practical dilutions. The scale invariance of the statistics of the fluid bilayers expected for such regime is then checked by comparing the neutron and light scattering patterns of samples of different concentrations