Related papers: Predicting plasticity with soft vibrational modes:…
We study the excitation of harmonic waves in thin elastic samples by a single dislocation in arbitrary motion. We consider both screw and edge dislocations that move perpendicularly to the surfaces of the layer. In Fourier space the…
The diffusion and flow of amorphous materials, such as glasses and granular materials, has resisted a simple microscopic description, analogous to defect theories for crystals. Early models were based on either gas-like inelastic collisions…
Plasticity in amorphous materials, such as glasses, colloids, or granular materials, is mediated by local rearrangements called "soft spots". Experiments and simulations have shown that soft spots are two-state entities interacting via…
Structural heterogeneity of amorphous solids present difficult challenges that stymie the prediction of plastic events, which are intimately connected to their mechanical behavior. Based on a perturbation analysis of the potential energy…
The formation of periodic wrinkles in soft layered materials due to mechanical instabilities is prevalent in nature and has been proposed for use in multiple applications. However, such phenomena have been explored predominantly in…
Elastic wave propagation is intrinsically sensitive to the mechanical properties of the medium through which it travels. In soft elastomers, this makes guided elastic waves natural probes of viscoelastic and acoustoelastic behavior over a…
We examine the effects of a periodically varying flow velocity on the standing and travelling wave patterns formed by the flow-distributed oscillation (FDO) mechanism. In the kinematic (or diffusionless) limit, the phase fronts undergo a…
We investigate the vibrational properties of topologically disordered materials by analytically studying particles that harmonically oscillate around random positions. Exploiting classical field theory in the thermodynamic limit at $T=0$,…
There is growing interest in functional, adaptive devices built from colloidal subunits of micron size or smaller. A colloidal material with dynamic mechanical properties could facilitate such microrobotic machines. Here we study via…
Functional materials design normally focuses on structurally-ordered systems because disorder is considered detrimental to many important physical properties. Here we challenge this paradigm by showing that particular types of…
Atomic vibrations in perfect, slightly defective or mixed crystals are to a large extent well understood since many decades. Theoretical descriptions are thus in excellent agreement with the experiments. As a consequence, phonon-related…
In this letter, we characterize experimentally the diffusiophoretic motion of colloids and lambda- DNA toward higher concentration of solutes, using microfluidic technology to build spatially- and temporally-controlled concentration…
Driven granular media constitute model systems in out-of-equilibrium statistical physics. By assimilating the motions of granular particles to those of atoms, by analogy, one can obtain macroscopic equivalent of phase transitions. Here, we…
Electric field induced collective reorientation of nematic molecules placed between two flat parallel electrodes is of importance for both fundamental science and practical applications. This reorientation is either homogeneous over the…
Subwavelength plasmonic waveguides show the unique ability of strongly localizing (down to the nanoscale) and guiding light. These structures are intrinsically two-way optical communication channels, providing two opposite light propagation…
Evolution equations for the orientation distribution of axisymmetric particles in periodic flows are derived in the regime of small but non-zero Brownian rotations. The equations are based on a multiple time scale approach that allows fast…
We study, theoretically and numerically, a minimal model for phonons in a disordered system. For sufficient disorder, the vibrational modes of this classical system can become Anderson localized, yet this problem has received significantly…
We describe results of measurements of the orientational motion of glass microrods in a microchannel flow, following the orientational motion of particles with different shapes. We determine how the orientational dynamics depends on the…
We poorly understand the properties of amorphous systems at small length scales, where a continuous elastic description breaks down. This is apparent when one considers their vibrational and transport properties, or the way forces propagate…
Porous nanosponges, percolated with a three-dimensional network of 10-nm sized ligaments, recently emerged as promising substrates for plasmon-enhanced spectroscopy and (photo-)catalysis. Experimental and theoretical work suggests surface…