Related papers: Statistics of non-affine defect precursors: tailor…
In the prevalent picture of ultrafast structural phase transitions, the atomic motion occurs in a slowly varying potential energy surface determined adiabatically by the fast electrons. However, this ignores non-conservative forces caused…
Using laser tweezers and fluorescence confocal polarizing microscopy, we study colloidal interactions of solid microspheres in the nematic bulk caused by elastic distortions around the particles with strong tangential surface anchoring. The…
We measure the defect density as a function of time at different temperatures in simulations of a two dimensional system of interacting particles. Just above the solid to liquid transition temperature, the power spectrum of the defect…
Materials characterized by spatially homogeneous elastic moduli undergo affine distortions when subjected to external stress at their boundaries, i.e., their displacements $\uv (\xv)$ from a uniform reference state grow linearly with…
Crystal defects are often rationalized through broken-bond counting via the nearest neighbor coordination number. In this work, we highlight that this perspective overlooks intrinsic heterogeneities in interatomic spacing that decisively…
Understanding the out-of equilibrium behaviour of point defects in crystals, yields insights into the nature and fragility of the ordered state, as well as being of great practical importance. In some rare cases defects are spontaneously…
The time evolution and spatial correlations of nonaffine displacements in deformed amorphous solids are investigated using molecular dynamics simulations. The three-dimensional model glass is represented via the binary mixture, which is…
We incorporate the effects of fluctuations in a density functional analysis of the freezing of a colloidal liquid in the presence of an external potential generated by interfering laser beams. A mean field treatment, using a density…
We experimentally investigate the distribution of the non-equilibrium work done by an external force on a mesoscopic system with many coupled degrees of freedom: a colloidal monolayer mechanically driven across a periodic light field. Since…
Point defects play a crucial role in crystalline materials as they do not only impact the thermodynamic properties but are also central to kinetic processes. While they are necessary in thermodynamic equilibrium spontaneous defect formation…
Metals owe their unique mechanical properties to how defects emerge and propagate within their crystal structure under stress. However, the mechanisms leading from the early emerging (local) defects to the amplification of dislocations…
The spontaneous formation of droplets via dewetting of a thin fluid film from a solid substrate allows for materials nanostructuring, under appropriate experimental control. While thermal fluctuations are expected to play a role in this…
We study the thermodynamics of ultrasmall metallic grains with level spacing $\delta$ comparable or smaller than the pairing correlation energy, at finite temperatures, $T \gsim \delta$. We describe a method which allows to find quantum…
One of the most noticeable collective motion of non-cohesive granular matter is clustering under certain conditions. In particular, when a quasi-two-dimensional monolayer of mono-disperse non-cohesive particles is vertically vibrated, a…
We study the diffusion of a tracer particle driven out-of-equilibrium by an external force and traveling in a dense environment of arbitrary density. The system evolves on a discrete lattice and its stochastic dynamics is described by a…
Rapid solidification leads to unique microstructural features, where a less studied topic is the formation of various crystalline defects, including high dislocation densities, as well as gradients and splitting of the crystalline…
Thermal fluctuations constantly and evenly excite all vibrational modes in an equilibrium crystal. As the temperature rises, these fluctuations promote the formation of defects and eventually melting. In active solids, the self-propulsion…
The dynamical arrest of attractive colloidal particles into out-of-equilibrium structures, known as gelation, is central to biophysics, materials science, nanotechnology, and food and cosmetic applications, but a complete understanding is…
We study how dispersions of colloidal particles in a cholesteric liquid crystal behave under a time-dependent electric field. By controlling the amplitude and shape of the applied field wave, we show that the system can be reproducibly…
We examined the Brownian motion of point defects in a two-dimensional hexagonal colloidal crystal, going beyond the conventional treatment that assumes constant diffusion coefficients. By extracting the spatially varying drift vector and…