Related papers: Polymer Knots in Thin Films: Thickness Dependence,…
This report examines the thickness dependence of the reorientation phase transition in ferromagnetic films with perpendicular anisotropy. That is, we find the exact boundary of metastability of uniformly magnetized in-plane states as the…
Entangled states are ubiquitous amongst fibrous materials, whether naturally occurring (keratin, collagen, DNA) or synthetic (nanotube assemblies, elastane). A key mechanical characteristic of these systems is their ability to reorganise in…
Many experiments have been done to determine the relative strength of different knots, and these show that the break in a knotted rope almost invariably occurs at a point just outside the `entrance' to the knot. The influence of knots on…
We introduce a class of models of semiflexible polymers. The latter are characterized by a strong rigidity, the correlation length associated to the gradient-gradient correlations, called the persistence length, being of the same order as…
We analyse the nature of the confinement of an infinitely long (and finite) linear semiflexible homo-polymer chain confined in between two geometrical constraints (A&B) under good solvent condition in two dimensions. The constraints are…
We investigate the statistical mechanics of a torsionally constrained polymer. The polymer is modeled as a fluctuating rod with bend stiffness A kT and twist stiffness C kT. In such a model, thermal bend fluctuations couple geometrically to…
Studies of random close packing of spheres have advanced our knowledge about the structure of systems such as liquids, glasses, emulsions, granular media, and amorphous solids. When these systems are confined their structural properties…
Relying on generalized-gradient and hybrid first-principles simulations, this work provides a complete characterization of the electronic properties of ZnO ultra-thin films, cut along the Body-Centered-Tetragonal(010), Cubane(100),…
We formulate a theoretical model of the shear failure of a thin film tethered to a rigid substrate. The interface between film and substrate is modeled as a cohesive layer with randomly fluctuating shear strength/fracture energy. We…
Recently it has been shown that surface plasmons supported by an interface between a 3+1 dimensional topological insulator and a metal or between a 3+1 dimensional topological insulator with residual bulk charge carriers and vacuum have a…
A coarse-grained computational model is used to investigate how the bending rigidity of a polymer under tension affects the formation of a trefoil knot. Thermodynamic integration techniques are applied to demonstrate that the free-energy…
This work reports a systematic study of the evolution of charge transport mechanism in granular ultra-thin films of palladium of thickness varying between 6nm and 2nm. While the films with thickness > 4nm exhibit metallic behaviour, that at…
We study the temporal growth pattern of surface fluctuations on a series of spinodally unstable polymer films where the degree of instability is controlled by the film thickness. For films in the deep spinodal region, the growth rate…
We present using simple scaling arguments and one step replica symmetry breaking a theory for the localization of semiflexible polymers in a quenched random environment. In contrast to completely flexible polymers, localization of…
When systems that can undergo phase separation between two coexisting phases in the bulk are confined in thin film geometry between parallel walls, the phase behavior can be profoundly modified. These phenomena shall be described and…
We study the effect of film density on the uniaxial compression of thin elastic films at a liquid--fluid interface. Using a combination of experiments and theory, we show that dense films first wrinkle and then fold as the compression is…
Using self-consistent field and density-functional theories, we first investigate colloidal self-assembling of colloid/polymer films confined between two soft surfaces grafted by polymers. With the increase of colloidal concentrations, the…
Chemical reactions inside cells are typically subject to the effects both of the cell's confining surfaces and of the viscoelastic behavior of its contents. In this paper, we show how the outcome of one particular reaction of relevance to…
We present the results of analytic calculations and numerical simulations of the behaviour of a new class of chain molecules which we call thick polymers. The concept of the thickness of such a polymer, viewed as a tube, is encapsulated by…
Solutions of semiflexible polymers confined by repulsive planar walls are studied by density functional theory and Molecular Dynamics simulations, to clarify the competition between the chain alignment favored by the wall and the depletion…