Research News: Polyelectrolyte - surfactant complexation allows the design and synthesis of a variety of highly ordered materials (such as that modeled in the Figure). The variation of the polyelectrolyte and/or surfactant properties enables the tuning of the mechanical, electrical, and optical properties of the materials. The highly ordered media produced could be combined with a number of functional components (e.g., NLO dyes, conducting subunits, or gas selective groups).