Related papers: Grain Boundary Scars and Spherical Crystallography
We propose that certain patterns (scars) -- theoretically and numerically predicted to be formed by electrons arranged on a sphere to minimize the repulsive Coulomb potential (the Thomson problem) and experimentally found in spherical…
Self-assembly of granular particles is of great interest in both applied and basic research. It is commonly observed that when randomly packed into a container, granular particles form disordered structures like glass. As the particles are…
Ordered phases on curved substrates experience a complex interplay of ordering and intrinsic curvature, commonly producing frustration and singularities. This is an especially important issue in crystals as ever-smaller scale materials are…
Boundary time crystals are a class of exotic dissipative quantum phases that spontaneously break continuous time-translation symmetry in the thermodynamic limit of open quantum systems. In finite-size systems, the long-time evolution of…
Observing and characterizing the complex ordering phenomena of liquid crystals subjected to external constraints constitutes an ongoing challenge for chemists and physicists alike. To elucidate the delicate balance appearing when the…
Fractal structures appear in a vast range of physical systems. A literature survey including all experimental papers on fractals which appeared in the six Physical Review journals (A-E and Letters) during the 1990's shows that experimental…
We present numerical results on spontaneous symmetry breaking strain localization in axisymmetric triaxial shear tests of granular materials. We simulated shear band formation using three-dimensional Distinct Element Method with spherical…
When colloidal particles form a crystal phase on a spherical template, their packing is governed by the effective interaction between them and the elastic strain of bending the growing crystal. For example, if growth commences under…
This study proposes a new analytical model for grain boundary pinning by second phase particles in two-dimensional polycrystals. This approach not only considers how particles impede grain growth, but also elucidates their role in…
Granular materials react to shear stresses differently than do ordinary fluids. Rather than deforming uniformly, materials such as dry sand or cohesionless powders develop shear bands: narrow zones containing large relative particle motion…
Cracks in thin layers are influenced by what lies beneath them. From buried craters to crocodile skin, crack patterns are found over an enormous range of length scales. Regardless of absolute size, their substrates can dramatically…
We investigate classical scattering off a harmonically oscillating target in two spatial dimensions. The shape of the scatterer is assumed to have a boundary which is locally convex at any point and does not support the presence of any…
In light of the race towards macroscale superlubricity of graphitic contacts, the effect of grain boundaries on their frictional properties becomes of central importance. Here, we elucidate the unique frictional mechanisms characterizing…
Smectic liquid crystals are materials formed by stacking deformable, fluid layers. Though smectics prefer to have flat, uniformly-spaced layers, boundary conditions can impose curvature on the layers. Since the layer spacing and curvature…
We investigate the formation of cluster crystals with multiply occupied lattice sites on a spherical surface in systems of ultra-soft particles interacting via repulsive, bounded pair potentials. Not all interactions of this kind lead to…
X-ray nanodiffraction is applied to study the formation and correlation of domain boundaries in mesocrystalline superlattices of PbS nanocrystals with face-centered cubic structure. Each domain of the superlattice can be described with one…
Light-scattering in the terahertz region is demonstrated for granular matter. A quantum-cascade laser is used in a benchtop setup to determine the angle-dependent scattering of spherical grains as well as coffee powder and sugar grains. For…
The striped patterns in rocks, characterized by thin dark bands and thick light bands, are a result of the natural processes that have shaped the rocks through in situ metamorphism. Notably, the dark and light bands are composed of similar…
We analyse the flow curves of a two-dimensional assembly of granular particles which are interacting via frictional contact forces. For packing fractions slightly below jamming, the fluid undergoes a large scale instability, implying a…
Understanding and controlling the properties and dynamics of topological defects is a lasting challenge in the study of two-dimensional materials, and is crucial to achieve high-quality films required for technological applications. Here…