Related papers: Phase transitions in layered crystals
We apply a simple dynamical density functional theory, the phase-field crystal (PFC) model of overdamped conservative dynamics, to address polymorphism, crystal nucleation, and crystal growth in the diffusion-controlled limit. We refine the…
Though the electrical responses of the various polymorphs found in ferroelectric polycrystalline thin film HfO$_2$ are now well characterized, little is currently understood of this novel material's grain sub-structure. In particular, the…
Phase transitions in neutron stars due to formation of quark matter, kaon condensates, etc. are discussed with particular attention to the order of these transitions. Observational consequences of phase transitions in pulsar angular…
This article presents a phenomenological dynamic phase transition theory for ferromagnetism, leading to a precise description of the dynamic transitions, and to a physical predication on the spontaneous magnetization. The analysis also…
Micrometre sized colloidal particles can be viewed as large atoms with tailorable size, shape and interactions. These building blocks can assemble into extremely rich structures and phases, in which the thermal motions of particles can be…
An analytical model for the evolution of the boundary of the new phase in transformations ruled by nucleation and growth is presented. Both homogeneous and heterogeneous nucleation have been considered: The former includes transformations…
Nucleation phenomena commonly observed in our every day life are of fundamental, technological and societal importance in many areas, but some of their most intimate mechanisms remain however to be unravelled. Crystal nucleation, the early…
Traditional ferroelectrics undergo thermally-induced phase transitions whereby their structural symmetry increases. The associated higher-symmetry structure is dubbed {\em paraelectric}. Ferroelectric transition metal dichalcogenide…
The dynamics of phase transitions plays a crucial r\^ole in the so-called interface between high energy particle physics and cosmology. Many of the interesting results generated during the last fifteen years or so rely on simplified…
Nanostructured ferroelectrics display exotic multidomain configurations resulting from the electrostatic and elastic boundary conditions they are subject to. While the ferroelectric domains appear frozen in experimental images, atomistic…
Liquids with quasi - chemical bonding between molecules are described in terms of vertex model. It is shown that this bonding results in liquid - liquid phase transition, which occurs between phases with different mean density of…
Electric-polarization reversibility in nano-ferroelectric structures renders them as a convenient platform for exploring phase transitions and developing energy-efficient switching devices. However, the fundamental question of how ferroic…
Cholesteric liquid crystals exhibit great morphological richness of static metastable states. Understanding the transitions between such states is key for the development of switchable devices. We show, using a quasi-one-dimensional model,…
This review article takes stock of the progress made in understanding the phase transition in hot nuclei and highlights the coherence of observed signatures
There are only two ways for solid-state phase transitions to be compliant with thermodynamics: emerging of infinitesimal quantity of the new phase, or infinitesimal "qualitative" change occurring uniformly throughout the bulk at a time. The…
While biological crystallization processes have been studied on the microscale extensively, models addressing the mesoscale aspects of such phenomena are rare. In this work, we investigate whether the phase-field theory developed in…
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…
Homogeneous nucleation of a new phase near a second, continuous, transition, is considered. The continuous transition is in the metastable region associated with the first-order phase transition, one of whose coexisting phases is…
Nucleation is the onset of a first-order phase transition by which a metastable phase transforms into a more stable one. Such a phase transition occurs when an initial system initially in equilibrium is destabilized by the change of an…
A general procedure for studying finite-N effects in quantum phase transitions of finite systems is presented and applied to the critical-point dynamics of nuclei undergoing a shape-phase transition of second-order (continuous), and of…