Dynamic Phases, Pinning, and Pattern Formation for Driven Dislocation Assemblies

We examine driven dislocation assemblies and show that they can exhibit a set of dynamical phases remarkably similar to those of driven systems with quenched disorder such as vortices in superconductors, magnetic domain walls, and charge density wave materials. These phases include pinned-jammed, fluctuating, and dynamically ordered states, and each produces distinct dislocation patterns as well as specific features in the noise fluctuations and transport properties. Our work suggests that many of the results established for systems with quenched disorder undergoing plastic depinning transitions can be applied to dislocation systems, providing a new approach for understanding pattern formation and dynamics in these systems

Domain and stripe formation between hexagonal and square ordered fillings of colloidal particles on periodic pinning substrates

Using large scale numerical simulations, we examine the ordering of colloidal particles on square periodic two-dimensional muffin-tin substrates consisting of a flat surface with localized pinning sites. We show that when there are four particles per pinning site, the particles adopt a hexagonal ordering, while for five particles per pinning site, a square ordering appears. For fillings between four and five particles per pinning site, we identify a rich variety of distinct ordering regimes, including disordered grain boundaries, crystalline stripe structures, superlattice orderings, and disordered patchy arrangements. We characterize the different regimes using Voronoi analysis, energy dispersion, and ordering of the domains. We show that many of the boundary formation features we observe occur for a wide range of other fillings. Our results demonstrate that grain boundary tailoring can be achieved with muffin-tin periodic pinning substrates

Dynamics of driven superconducting vortices.

Vortices in superconductors exhibit rich dynamical behaviors that are relevant to the physical properties of the material. In this thesis, we use simulations to study the dynamics of flux-gradient-driven vortices in different types of samples. We make connections between the microscopic behavior of the vortices and macroscopic experimentally observable measurements. First, we systematically quantify the effect of the pinning landscape on the macroscopic properties of vortex avalanches and vortex plastic flow. We relate the velocity field, cumulative patterns of vortex flow channels, and voltage noise measurements with statistical quantities, such as distributions of avalanche sizes. Samples with a high density of strong pinning sites produce very broad avalanche distributions. Easy-flow vortex channels appear in samples with a low pinning density, and typical avalanche sizes emerge in an otherwise broad distribution of sizes. We observe a crossover from interstitial motion in narrow channels to pin-to-pin motion in broad channels as the pin density is increased. Second, we also analyze the microscopic dynamics of vortex motion through channels that form river-like fractal networks in a variety of superconducting samples, and relate it to macroscopic measurable quantities such as the power spectrum. As a function of pinning strength, we calculate the fractal dimension, tortuosity, and the corresponding voltage noise spectrum. Above a certain pinning strength, a remarkable universal drop in both tortuosity and noise power occurs when the vortex motion changes from braiding channels to unbraided channels. Third, we also present a new dynamic phase diagram for driven vortices with varying lattice softness that indicates that, at high driving currents, at least two distinct dynamic phases of flux flow appear depending on the vortex-vortex interaction strength. When the flux lattice is soft, the vortices flow in independently moving channels with smectic structure. For stiff flux lattices, adjacent channels become locked together, producing crystalline-like order in a coupled-channel phase. At the crossover lattice softness between these phases, the system produces a maximum amount of voltage noise. Our results relate spatial order with transport and are in good agreement with experiments. Finally, results for anisotropic systems are presented.Ph.D.Condensed matter physicsPure SciencesUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/131518/2/9909974.pd