Related papers: Depth-dependent ordering, two-length-scale phenome…
Studies of nucleation generally focus on the properties of the critical cluster, but the presence of defects within the crystal lattice means that the population of nuclei necessarily evolve through a distribution of pre-critical clusters…
The critical behavior of many physical systems involves two competing $n^{}_1-$ and $n^{}_2-$component order-parameters, ${\bf S}^{}_1$ and ${\bf S}^{}_2$, respectively, with $n=n^{}_1+n^{}_2$. Varying an external control parameter $g$,…
We report thermal expansion and heat capacity studies on Li$_2$FeSiO$_4$ single crystals which enable us to investigate the critical behavior in the magnetically quasi-two-dimensional (2D) material. Pronounced $\lambda$-shaped anomalies at…
Mixed-order phase transitions display a discontinuity in the order parameter like first-order transitions yet feature critical behavior like second-order transitions. Such transitions have been predicted for a broad range of equilibrium and…
Vortex states in high-$T_{\rm c}$ superconductors with point defects are studied by large-scale Monte Carlo simulations of the three-dimensional frustrated XY model. A critical point is observed on the first-order phase boundary between the…
Whereas disclination defects are energetically prohibitive in two-dimensional flat crystals, their existence is necessary in crystals with spherical topology, such as viral capsids, colloidosomes or fullerenes. Such a geometrical…
An analysis of water clustering is used to study the quasi-2D percolation transition of water adsorbed at planar hydrophilic surfaces. Above the critical temperature of the layering transition (quasi-2D liquid-vapor phase transition of…
Order-disorder transitions take place in many physical systems, but observing them in detail in real materials is difficult. In two- or quasi-two-dimensional systems, the transition has been studied by computer simulations and…
We study the behavior of the two-dimensional Ising model in a finite box at temperatures that are below, but very close to, the critical temperature. In a regime where the temperature approaches the critical point and, simultaneously, the…
Linear defects such as dislocations and disclinations in ordered materials attract foreign particles since they replace strong elastic distortions at the defect cores. In this work, we explore the behavior of isotropic droplets nucleating…
The strange metal behavior, usually characterized by a linear-in-temperature (T) resistivity, is a still unsolved mystery in solid-state physics. Usually it is associated with the proximity to a quantum critical point (a second order…
Using molecular dynamics simulation we examine changeovers among crystal, glass, and liquid at high density in a two dimensional binary mixture. We change the ratio between the diameters of the two components and the temperature. The…
The magnetic order-disorder layering transitions of a spin-1 Ising model are investigated, under the effect of a variable surface crystal field $\Delta_{s}$, using the mean field theory. Each layer $k$, of the film formed with $N$ layers,…
The depth dependence of the crystallographic parameters mosaicity, lattice parameter variation and integrated reflectivity and of the critical scattering above the 105 K structural phase transition of SrTiO$_3$ have been studied in five…
The formation and dynamics of a wide variety of binary two-dimensional ordered structures and superlattices are investigated through a phase field crystal model with sublattice ordering. Various types of binary ordered phases, the phase…
We study a continuous quasi-two-dimensional order-disorder phase transition that occurs in a simple model of a material that is inhomogeneously strained due to the presence of dislocation lines. Performing Monte Carlo simulations of…
Sapphire and rubies (undoped and Cr-doped $\alpha$-Al$_2$O$_3$ single crystals) have been deformed in compression at temperatures lower than those previously used in studies of dislocations in the basal slip plane (see part I). Above…
We study the structure and melting of a classical bilayer system of dipoles, in a setup where the dipoles are oriented perpendicular to the planes of the layers and the density of dipoles is the same in each layer. Due to the anisotropic…
The coil-globule transition of an isolated polymer has been well established to be a second-order phase transition described by a standard tricritical O(0) field theory. We provide compelling evidence from Monte Carlo simulations in four…
We review the theory of second--order (ferro--)elastic phase transitions, where the order parameter consists of a certain linear combination of strain tensor components, and the accompanying soft mode is an acoustic phonon. In…