Related papers: Single ice crystal growth with controlled orientat…
The ability to manipulate polar entities with multiple external fields opens exciting possibilities for emerging functionalities and novel applications in spin systems, photonics, metamaterials, and soft matter. Liquid crystals (LCs),…
Granular crystallisation is an important phenomenon whereby ordered packing structures form in granular matter under vibration. However, compared with the well-developed principles of crystallisation at the atomic scale, crystallisation in…
Volatile species in protoplanetary discs can undergo a phase change from vapour to solid. These "snow-lines" can play vital roles in planet formation at all scales, from dust coagulation to planetary migration. In the outer regions of…
Broadband dielectric spectroscopy was used to study the molecular orientational dynamics of the glass-forming, thioether-linked cyanobiphenyl liquid crystal dimers. As was expected theoretically, two different relaxation processes that…
Many ionic surfactants, such as sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) crystallize out of solution if the temperature falls below the crystallization boundary. The crystallization temperature is impacted by solution properties, and can be decreased…
Condensation and frost formation degrade the heat transfer performance of air-conditioners and refrigerators. Yet, the frost formation mechanism has not been fully understood. In the present study, we numerically investigated H2O droplets…
Soft-granular media, such as dense emulsions, foams or tissues, exhibit either fluid- or solid-like properties depending on the applied external stresses. Whereas bulk rheology of such materials has been thoroughly investigated, the…
Initially, the acoustic field forced the droplets into an oblate spheroid shape, though the counteracting force of the cooling stream caused them to circularize. Droplet geometry was thus the net result of streaming forces and surface…
Ice templating, a route where ice crystals are used to template macroporosity, has been used to process a variety of materials with one level of macropores. We demonstrate here a variant of ice templating based on the solidification of…
Supercooled liquids exhibit spatial heterogeneity in the dynamics of their fluctuating atomic arrangements. The length and time scales of the heterogeneous dynamics are central to the glass transition and influence nucleation and growth of…
There is mounting evidence indicating that relaxation dynamics in liquids approaching their glass transition not only becomes increasingly cooperative (1,2) but the relaxing regions also become more compact in shape(3-7). While the surface…
This paper presents a matrix of 206 snow crystal growth observations as a function of temperature and water vapor supersaturation in air, each illustrating the morphology and size of a crystal forming on the tip of an isolated c-axis ice…
The best-understood crystal ordering transition is that of two-dimensional freezing, which proceeds by the rapid eradication of lattice defects as the temperature is lowered below a critical threshold. But crystals that assemble on closed…
Damage caused by freezing wet, porous materials is a widespread problem, but is hard to predict or control. Here, we show that polycrystallinity makes a great difference to the stress build-up process that underpins this damage. Unfrozen…
We have investigated the morphological evolution of laboratory new snow under isothermal conditions at different temperatures $T=-3,-9,-19 ^{\circ}C$ by means of X-ray tomography. The collective dynamics of the bicontinuous ice-vapor system…
The viscoplastic deformation (creep) of crystalline materials under constant stress involves the motion of a large number of interacting dislocations. Analytical methods and sophisticated `dislocation-dynamics' simulations have proved very…
Comparative study of thin film Cholesteric Liquid Crystal (CLC) lasers made from different materials and optically pumped by external solid state laser reveals a striking dependence of lasing behaviour (ranging from single mode at the edge…
The structural nature of high-density amorphous ice (HDA), which forms through low-temperature pressure-induced amorphization of the 'ordinary' ice I, is heavily debated. Clarifying this question is not only important for understanding the…
Effects of the growth velocity on the crystal growth behavior of Bi_2Sr_2Ca_1Cu_2O_x (Bi-2212) have been studied by floating zone technique. The results show that a necessary condition for obtaining large single crystals along the c-axis is…
Hybrid systems consisting of metal-fullerene composites exhibit intriguing properties but often suffer from thermal instability. With proper control, such instability can be harnessed to enable the formation of sophisticated nanostructures…