Related papers: Kinks and Nanofriction: Structural Phases in Few-A…
We derive a closed-form expression for the phase shift experienced by 1+1 dimensional kinks colliding at ultra-relativistic velocities (gamma v >> 1), valid for arbitrary periodic potentials. Our closed-form expression is the leading order…
The goal of this PhD thesis was to characterize the properties of friction in nanotubes and from a more general point of view the understanding of the microscopic origin of friction. Indeed, the relative simplicity of the system allows us…
The static friction between crystalline surfaces separated by a molecularly thin layer of adsorbed molecules is calculated using molecular dynamics simulations. These molecules naturally lead to a finite static friction that is consistent…
The elastic interaction between kinks (and antikinks) within domain walls plays a pivotal role in shaping the domain structure, and their dynamics. In bulk materials, kinks interact as elastic monopoles, dependent on the distance between…
We study the dynamical response of a diatomic periodic chain of rotors coupled by springs, whose unit cell breaks spatial inversion symmetry. In the continuum description, we derive a nonlinear field theory which admits topological kinks…
We extend the study of velocity quantization phenomena recently found in the classical motion of an idealized 1D model solid lubricant -- consisting of a harmonic chain interposed between two periodic sliding potentials [Phys. Rev. Lett.…
An impact of kink-type solitons on infrared lattice vibrations is studied for incommensurate Frenkel-Kontorova model. It is shown that the vibration of particles involved into the kink formation is very similar to that in a gap mode around…
The connection between friction and jamming in granular media, molecular glasses, and complex fluids is explored. The paper first reviews the way friction is measured, the types of results that are observed, and what is known about the…
We present a numerical study of the process of the kink-antikink collisions in the coupled one-dimensional two-component $\phi^4$ model. Our results reveal two different soliton solutions which represent double kink configuration and…
An optical kink is a shock-wave-like field structure which can appear in a resonant two-level medium as a result of the nonlinear process of self-steepening. We numerically simulate this process using an adiabatically switching waveform as…
We explore dynamic structural superlubricity for the case of a relatively large contact area, where the friction force is proportional to the area (exceeding $\sim 100\,nm^2$) experimentally, numerically, and theoretically. We use a setup…
The dynamics of cold trapped ions in a high-finesse resonator results from the interplay between the long-range Coulomb repulsion and the cavity-induced interactions. The latter are due to multiple scatterings of laser photons inside the…
The understanding of friction at nano-scales, ruled by the regular arrangement of atoms, is surprisingly incomplete. Here we provide a unified understanding by studying the interlocking potential energy of two infinite contacting surfaces…
We investigate the stability of low-friction sliding of nanocrystal with rectangular atomic arrangement on rectangular lattices, for which analytical results can be obtained. We find that several incommensurate periodic orbits exist and are…
We investigate nanoscale friction in [LaMnO3]m/[SrMnO3]n superlattice films using lateral force microscopy, focusing on the effects of fluorine doping and top-layer thickness. For all samples, friction forces scale linearly with the sum of…
The structural properties of static, jammed packings of monodisperse spheres in the vicinity of the jamming transition are investigated using large-scale computer simulations. At small wavenumber $k$, we argue that the anomalous behavior in…
We study the phase diagram and the commensurate-incommensurate transitions in a phase field model of a two-dimensional crystal lattice in the presence of an external pinning potential. The model allows for both elastic and plastic…
Ionic liquids, salts in the liquid state under ambient conditions, are of great interest as precision lubricants. Ionic liquids form layered structures at surfaces, yet it is not clear how this nano-structure relates to their lubrication…
The wear-driven structural evolution of nanocrystalline Cu was simulated with molecular dynamics under constant normal loads, followed by a quantitative analysis. While the microstructure far away from the sliding contact remains unchanged,…
We investigate a mechanism of the appearance of kinetic friction in granular materials. We consider a small number of intervening inelastic particles between two rough surfaces as one of the simplest dynamical models to study granular…