Related papers: Disorder-Driven Pretransitional Tweed in Martensit…
We've been studying the ``tweed'' precursors above the martensitic transition in shape--memory alloys. These characteristic cross--hatched modulations occur for hundreds of degrees above the first--order shape--changing transition. Our…
There is little consensus on the nature of the glass state and its relationship to other strain states in ferroelastic materials which show the shape memory effect and superelasticity. We provide a thermodynamic interpretation of the known…
Order-disorder transitions take place in many physical systems, but observing them in detail in real materials is difficult. In two- or quasi-two-dimensional systems, the transition has been studied by computer simulations and…
A phonon theory of precursor phenomena in martensitic phase transformations is developed. Extending Gr\"uneisen theory of thermal expansion, this theory addresses the effects of deformation-dependent low-energy phonons on the structural,…
We briefly introduce tweed, which is found above the martensitic transition in a variety of shape-memory, high-T_c, and other materials. Based on our previous mapping of the problem onto a spin-glass model, we conjecture that the two-way…
We show that the flux line lattice in a model layered HTSC becomes unstable above a critical magnetic field with respect to a plastic deformation via penetration of pairs of point-like disclination defects. The instability is characterized…
We study a disordered network of bistable bonds subjected to periodic strain. The model is inspired by experiments on crumpled sheets and it features behaviors associated with glasses, including a complex energy landscape, memories, and…
In the quasi-2D electron systems of the layered transition metal dichalcogenides (TMD) there is still a controversy about the nature of the transitions to charge-density wave (CDW) phases, i.e. whether they are described by a Peierls-type…
Charge density waves (CDW) and their concomitant periodic lattice distortions (PLD) govern the electronic properties in many layered transition-metal dichalcogenides. In particular, 1T-TaS2 undergoes a metal-to-insulator phase transition as…
Diffusionless phase transitions are at the core of the multifunctionality of (magnetic) shape memory alloys, ferroelectrics and multiferroics. Giant strain effects under external fields are obtained in low symmetric modulated martensitic…
Twisting and stacking two copies of a 2D crystal can produce a long-wavelength periodic interference pattern known as a moir\'e pattern. Performing the same procedure with an aperiodic structure instead generates a single moir\'e spot at…
Single-layer transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) can adopt two distinct structures corresponding to different coordination of the metal atoms. TMDCs adopting the T-type structure exhibit a rich and diverse set of phenomena, including…
We describe a facile technique based on polymer encapsulation to apply several percent controllable strains to monolayer and few-layer Transition Metal Dichalcogenides (TMDs). We use this technique to study the lattice response to strain…
We study both theoretically and experimentally the effects of introducing deliberate disorder in a slow-light photonic crystal waveguide on the photon density of states. We first introduce a theoretical model that includes both deliberate…
Two-dimensional (2D) transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) materials have versatile electronic and optical properties. TMD nanoribbons show interesting properties due to reduced dimensionality, quantum confinement, and edge states. Tang et…
Mesoscopic irregularly ordered and even amorphous self-assembled electronic structures were recently reported in two-dimensional metallic dichalcogenides (TMDs), created and manipulated with short light pulses or by charge injection. Apart…
We show that in presence of a deformable lattice potential, the nature of the disorder-driven metal-insulator transition (MIT) is fundamentally changed with respect to the non-interacting (Anderson) scenario. For strong disorder, even a…
Materials which can undergo slow diffusive transformations as well as fast displacive transformations are studied using the phase-field method. The model captures the essential features of the time-temperature-transformation (TTT) diagrams,…
We study a flux lattice which is parallel to superconducting layers, allowing for dislocations and for disorder of both short wavelength and long wavelength. We find that the long wavelength disorder has a significant effect on the phase…
Frustrated Mott insulators such as transition metal dichalcogenides present an ideal platform for the experimental realization of externally tuned insulator-metal transition. In this paper, we present the first nonperturbative numerical…