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The discovery of quasicrystals 30 years ago challenged our understanding of order at the atomic scale. While quasicrystals possess long-range orientational order they lack translation periodicity. Structurally complex, yet crystalline…
We study colloidal ordering and disordering on two-dimensional periodic substrates where the number of colloids per substrate minima is two or three. The colloids form dimer or trimer states with orientational ordering, referred to as…
With computer simulations of the hard sphere model, we examine in detail the microscopic pathway connecting the metastable melt to the emergence of crystalline clusters. In particular we will show that the nucleation of the solid phase does…
We study the steady state resulting from instabilities in crystals driven through a dissipative medium, for instance, a colloidal crystal which is steadily sedimenting through a viscous fluid. The problem involves two coupled fields, the…
A variational lattice model is proposed to define an evolution of sets from a single point (nucleation) following a criterion of "maximization" of the perimeter. At a discrete level, the evolution has a "checkerboard" structure and its…
Nucleation and growth of crystal in an oxide glass was studied in a Si B Al Zr Nd Ca Na O system. The nucleation and growth process was monitored by thermal analysis and isothermal experiments. For the Ca sample the crystallization is…
The kinetic mechanisms underlying bottom-up assembly of colloidal particles have been widely investigated in efforts to control crystallization pathways and to direct growth into targeted superstructures for applications including photonic…
Impurities in crystalline materials introduce disorder into an otherwise ordered structure due to the formation of lattice defects and grain boundaries. The properties of the resulting polycrystal can differ remarkably from those of the…
We review our recent modeling of crystal nucleation and polycrystalline growth using a phase field theory. First, we consider the applicability of phase field theory for describing crystal nucleation in a model hard sphere fluid. It is…
The cubic blue phases of liquid crystals are fascinating and technologically promising examples of hierarchically structured soft materials, comprising ordered networks of defect lines (disclinations) within a liquid crystalline matrix. We…
Static recrystallization is an important aspect of metal processing. The initial stage of recrystallization - nucleation of new grains - determines its later stages. The accepted mechanisms of recrystallization nucleation are based on the…
In this paper we focus on crystal surfaces led out of equilibrium by a growth or erosion process. As a consequence of that the surface may undergo morphological instabilities and develop a distinct structure: ondulations, mounds or…
Ice nucleation plays a significant role in a large number of natural and technological processes, but it is challenging to investigate experimentally because of the small time (ns) and short length scales (nm) involved. On the other hand,…
It has been experimentally established in numerous cases that precipitation of monodispersed colloids from homogeneous solutions is a complex process. Specifically, it was found that in many systems nuclei, produced rapidly in a…
Colloidal model systems allow for a flexible tuning of particle sizes, particle spacings and mutual interactions at constant temperature. Colloidal suspensions typically crystallize as soon as the interactions get sufficiently strong and…
Colloidal particles are often seen as big atoms that can be directly observed in real space. They are therefore playing an increasingly important role as model systems to study processes of interest in condensed matter physics such as…
We systematically study the relationship between equilibrium and non-equilibrium phase diagrams of a system of short-ranged attractive colloids. Using Monte Carlo and Brownian dynamics simulations we find a window of enhanced…
Conical surfaces pose an interesting challenge to crystal growth: a crystal growing on a cone can wrap around and meet itself at different radii. We use a disk-packing algorithm to investigate how this closure constraint can geometrically…
NaCl crystal nucleation from metastable solutions has long been considered to occur according to a single-step mechanism. Recent experimental observations suggest that NaCl crystals emerge from disordered intermediates which is seemingly at…
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…