Related papers: Can liquid metal surfaces have hexatic order?
We discuss the scenario of two-step magnetic ordering in layered high temperature superconductors after charge ordering. As the temperature decreases, the transition from 3D Heisenberg spin behavior to 2D XY coupling of the Cu spins occurs…
We introduce a minimal model of solid-forming anisotropic molecules that displays, in thermal equilibrium, surface orientational order without bulk orientational order. The model reproduces the nonequilibrium behavior of recent experiments…
We develop a two-orbital Hubbard model of electron correlations in ultrathin (111)-oriented fcc films of late transition metals such as Co and Ni. Our model indicates that the Mott-Hund's interaction results in ferromagnetic…
Nucleation phenomena commonly observed in our every day life are of fundamental, technological and societal importance in many areas, but some of their most intimate mechanisms remain however to be unravelled. Crystal nucleation, the early…
A spontaneous buckling transition in thin layers of monodomain nematic liquid crystalline gel was observed by polarized light microscopy. The coupling between the orientational ordering of liquid crystalline solvent and the translational…
$^4$He nanodroplets doped with an alkali ion feature a snowball of crystallized layers surrounded by superfluid helium. For large droplets, we predict that a transitional supersolid layer can form, bridging between the solid core and the…
Liquid mixtures composed of colloidal particles and much smaller non-adsorbing linear homopolymers can undergo a gelation transition due to polymer-mediated depletion forces. We now show that the addition of linear polymers to suspensions…
Heavily oxygen deficient NdNiO$_3$ (NNO) films, which are insulating due to electron localization, contain pristine regions that undergo a hidden metal-insulator transition. Increasing oxygen content increases the connectivity of the…
We discuss some interesting physical features stemming from our previous analytical study of a simple model of a fluid with dipolar-like interactions of very short range in addition to the usual isotropic Baxter potential for adhesive…
We have performed Monte Carlo simulations to investigate the temperature dependence of the ordering of the side chains of the X-shape liquid crystal molecules which are arranged in a hexagonal array. Each hexagon contains six side chains,…
We show that development of polar order may spontaneously destroy the lamellar structure of a liquid crystal. This results in an unusual sequence of phases with the ferroelectric nematic phase appearing below a non-polar smectic phase. The…
We investigate the orientational order of transverse polarization vectors of long columns of nucleosomal core particles and their coupling to positional order in high density mesophases discovered recently. Inhomogeneous polar ordering of…
Surface tension tends to minimize the area of interfaces between pieces of matter in different thermodynamic phases, be they in the solid or the liquid state. This can be relevant for the macroscopic shape of very soft solids, and lead to a…
We report an experimental investigation of the transition from a hexagonally ordered solid phase to a disordered liquid in a monolayer of vibrated spheres. The transition occurs as the intensity of the vibration amplitude is increased.…
I describe new phases of a chiral liquid crystal with nematic and hexatic order. I find a conical phase, similar to that of a cholesteric in an applied magnetic field for Frank elastic constants $K_2>K_3$. I discuss the role of fluctuations…
The high-temperature properties of the Al(111) surface are studied by molecular-dynamics simulation. This surface does not melt below the bulk melting point, but can be superheated. Superheating of metal surfaces has been recently observed…
We investigate the large-scale structure of amorphous ices and transitions between their different forms by quantifying their large-scale density fluctuations. Specifically, we simulate the isothermal compression of low-density amorphous…
As in between liquid and crystal phases lies a nematic liquid crystal, which breaks rotation with preservation of translation symmetry, there is a nematic superfluid phase bridging a superfluid and a supersolid. The nematic order also…
I report on the experimental confirmation that critical percolation statistics underlie the ordering kinetics of twisted nematic phases in the Allen-Cahn universality class. Soon after the ordering starts from a homogeneous disordered phase…
The nucleation of crystals from the liquid melt is often characterized by a competition between different crystalline structures or polymorphs, and can result in nuclei with heterogeneous compositions. These mixed-phase nuclei can display…