Related papers: Two Approaches to Dislocation Nucleation in the Su…
We apply a simple dynamical density functional theory, the phase-field-crystal (PFC) model, to describe homogeneous and heterogeneous crystal nucleation in 2d monodisperse colloidal systems and crystal nucleation in highly compressed Fe…
The transformation of monolayer islands into bilayer islands as a first step of the overall two-dimensional to three-dimensional (2D-3D) transformation in the coherent Stranski-Krastanov mode of growth is studied for the cases of expanded…
Material properties controlled by evolving defect structures, such as mechanical response, often involve processes spanning many length and time scales which cannot be modeled using a single approach. We present a variety of new results…
A long-standing discrepancy exists between experiments and atomistic models concerning the critical strain needed for surface nucleation of dislocations in silicon-germanium systems. While dislocation nucleation is readily observed in…
Small displacement methods have been successfully used to calculate the lattice dynamical properties of crystals. It involves displacing atoms by a small amount in order to calculate the induced forces on all atoms in a supercell for the…
We have made pressure and NMR measurements during the evolution of phase separation in solid helium isotopic mixtures. Our observations indicate clearly all three stages of the homogeneous nucleation - growth process: 1) creation of…
Viscoelastic phase separation of colloidal suspensions can be interrupted to form gels either by glass transition or by crystallization. With a new confocal microscopy protocol, we follow the entire kinetics of phase separation, from…
The shape evolution of two-dimensional islands through periphery diffusion biased by an electromigration force is studied numerically using a continuum approach. We show that the introduction of crystal anisotropy in the mobility of edge…
Colloidal systems offer the ideal conditions to study the nucleation process, both from an experimental viewpoint, due to their relative large size and long time-scales, and from a modeling point of view, due to the tunability of their…
We present a detailed systematical theoretical analysis of the post-growth processes occurring in nanofractals grown on surface. For this study we developed a method which accounts for the internal dynamics of particles in a fractal. We…
In nanoparticulate phase-separating electrodes, phase separation inside the particles can be hindered during their charge/discharge cycles even when a thermodynamic driving force for phase separation exists. In such cases, particles may…
Understanding surface dynamics during epitaxial film growth is key to growing high quality materials with controllable properties. X-ray photon correlation spectroscopy (XPCS) using coherent x-rays opens new opportunities for in situ…
Understanding plastic deformation of crystals in terms of the fundamental physics of dislocations has remained a grand challenge in materials science for decades. To overcome this, the Discrete Dislocation Dynamics (DDD) method has been…
Crystallization, a prototypical self-organization process during which a disordered state spontaneously transforms into a crystal characterized by a regular arrangement of its building blocks, usually proceeds by nucleation and growth. In…
Diffusion of small two dimensional Cu islands (containing up to 10 atoms) on Cu(111) has been studied using the newly developed self-learning Kinetic Monte Carlo SLKMC method. It is based on a database of diffusion processes and their…
We determine the full kinetic phase diagram for nucleation and growth of crystal phases in a suspension of charged colloids. We calculate nucleation barrier heights for face-centered cubic (fcc) and body-centered cubic (bcc) crystal phases…
The structural and dynamical properties of ultra-soft colloids - star polymers - exposed to a uniform external force field are analyzed applying the multiparticle collision dynamics approach, a hybrid coarse-grain mesoscale simulation…
The inherent inconsistency in identifying the phase field in the phase field crystal Theory with the material mass and, simultaneously, with material distortion is discussed. In its current implementation, elastic relaxation in the phase…
Systems with long-range interactions when quenced into a metastable state near the pseudo-spinodal exhibit nucleation processes that are quite different from the classical nucleation seen near the coexistence curve. In systems with…
Global optimization of transition paths in complex atomic scale systems is addressed in the context of misfit dislocation formation in a strained Ge film on Si(001). Such paths contain multiple intermediate minima connected by minimum…