相关论文: A short-range metastable defect in the double laye…
The fundamental properties of ice have always attracted a lot of interest due to omnipresence of ice in many different natural contexts. Since cubic ice recently become experimentally accessible from a low-density gas hydrate precursor [1,…
We use three-dimensional phase-field simulations to investigate the dynamics of the two-phase composite patterns formed upon during solidification of eutectic alloys. Besides the spatially periodic lamellar and rod patterns that have been…
We study the initial stages of homogeneous melting of a hexagonal ice crystal at coexistence and at moderate superheating. Our trajectory-based computer simulation approach provides a comprehensive picture of the events that lead to…
The addition of enough non-adsorbing polymer to an otherwise stable colloidal suspension gives rise to a variety of phase behavior and kinetic arrest due to the depletion attraction induced between the colloids by the polymers. We report a…
Peculiarities of the defect modes of cholesteric liquid crystals (CLCs) with an isotropic/anisotropic defect inside are investigated. The influence of the defect layer thickness and its anisotropy of refraction, the influence of the system…
We present a theoretical study of the director fields and energetics of nematic liquid crystal shells with two pairs of surface defects. The pairs of defects can undergo abrupt transitions between a configuration of maximum separation to at…
Our previous molecular dynamic simulation studies of simple two-dimensional (2D) systems \cite{matt_big} suggested that both geometrical defects (localized, large-amplitude deviations from hexagonal ordering) and topological defects…
The formation of monolayer and multilayer ice with a square lattice structure has recently been reported on the basis of transmission electron microscopy experiments, renewing interest in confined two dimensional ice. Here we report a…
\textit{Ab initio} random structure searching based on density functional theory is used to determine the ground-state structures of ice at high pressures. Including estimates of lattice zero-point energies, ice is found to adopt three…
The freezing of colloidal suspensions is encountered in many natural and engineering processes. It can be harnessed through a process known as ice templating, to produce porous materials and composites exhibiting unique functional…
Biological surfaces, such as developing epithelial tissues, exhibit in-plane polar or nematic order and can be strongly curved. Recently, integer (+1) topological defects have been identified as morphogenetic hotspots in living systems.…
We study the interplay of topological bottlenecks and energetic barriers to equilibration in a Coulomb spin liquid where a short-range energetic coupling between defects charged under an emergent gauge field supplements their entropic…
Phases with distinct thermodynamic properties must differ in their underlying distributions of microscopic structures. While ordered phases are readily distinguished by unit cells and space groups, the local structural basis differentiating…
We investigate experimentally and numerically the defect configurations emerging when a cholesteric liquid crystal is confined to a spherical shell. We uncover a rich scenario of defect configurations, some of them non-existent in nematic…
Point defects are ubiquitous in two dimensional crystals and play a fundamental role in determining their mechanical and thermodynamical properties. When crystals are formed on a curved background, finite length grain boundaries (scars) are…
Among the many ice polymorphs, ice I, that is present in nature at ambient pressure, occurs with two different structures, i.e. the stable hexagonal (Ih) or the metastable cubic (Ic) one. An accurate analysis of cubic ice Ic was missing…
Amorphous solids exhibit quasi-universal low-temperature anomalies whose origin has been ascribed to localized tunneling defects. Using an advanced Monte Carlo procedure, we create {\it in silico} glasses spanning from hyperquenched to…
We report a detailed theoretical analysis of novel quadrupolar interactions observed between islands, which are disk-like inclusions of extra layers, floating in thin, freely suspended smectic C liquid crystal films. Strong tangential…
With numerical simulations of the mW model of water, we investigate the energetic stability of crystalline clusters for both Ice I (cubic and hexagonal ice) and for the metastable Ice 0 phase as a function of the cluster size. Under a large…
Previous studies of the structure of liquid water under pressure performed by neutron diffraction, allowed us to establish two structural limits in liquid water. These two limits are closely connected to the two known forms of amorphous ice…