ICTS

Consider a system which is rendered thermodynamically unstable by a sudden change of parameters, e.g., temperature, pressure, etc. The system evolves towards its new equilibrium state via the emergence and growth of domains enriched in the preferred phases. Problems in this area of "kinetics of phase transitions" have received much research attention. In this talk, we review our understanding of this area. We also discuss our recent work on surface-directed spinodal decomposition, i.e., the interplay of wetting and phase separation at a surface.