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Energetics of crystalline silicon dioxide-silicon (SiO2/Si) interfaces
We consider the interface between a (100) silicon surface and several naturally occurring crystalline silicon dioxide (SiO{sub 2}-silica) polymorphs: {alpha}-quartz, {beta}-cristobalite, tridymite, and keatite. Using a classical empirical potential, we compute the strain energy required for epitaxy for each silica structure. Tridymite is the least energetically favorable epitaxial phase, followed by {alpha}-quartz, then {beta}-cristobalite, while the most energetically favorable phase is keatite. We discuss the implications of this for epitaxial growth, and the crystalline to amorphous transition within atomically thin silica layers
Simple Model of Capillary Condensation in porous media
We employ a simple model to describe the phase behavior of 4He and Ar in a
hypothetical porous material consisting of a regular array of infinitely long,
solid, parallel cylinders. We find that high porosity geometries exhibit two
transitions: from vapor to film and from film to capillary condensed liquid. At
low porosity, the film is replaced by a ``necking'' configuration, and for a
range of intermediate porosity there are three transitions: from vapor to film,
from film to necking and from necking to a capillary condensed phase.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figure
On the existence of supersolid helium-4 monolayer films
Extensive Monte Carlo simulations of helium-4 monolayer films adsorbed on
weak substrates have been carried out, aimed at ascertaining the possible
occurrence of a quasi-two-dimensional supersolid phase. Only crystalline films
not registered with underlying substrates are considered. Numerical results
yield strong evidence that helium-4 will not form a supersolid film on {any}
substrate strong enough to stabilize a crystalline layer. On weaker substrates,
continuous growth of a liquid film takes place
Thomas-Fermi-Dirac-von Weizsacker hydrodynamics in laterally modulated electronic systems
We have studied the collective plasma excitations of a two-dimensional
electron gas with an arbitrary lateral charge-density modulation. The dynamics
is formulated using a previously developed hydrodynamic theory based on the
Thomas-Fermi-Dirac-von Weizsacker approximation. In this approach, both the
equilibrium and dynamical properties of the periodically modulated electron gas
are treated in a consistent fashion. We pay particular attention to the
evolution of the collective excitations as the system undergoes the transition
from the ideal two-dimensional limit to the highly-localized one-dimensional
limit. We also calculate the power absorption in the long-wavelength limit to
illustrate the effect of the modulation on the modes probed by far-infrared
(FIR) transmission spectroscopy.Comment: 27 page Revtex file, 15 Postscript figure
To wet or not to wet: that is the question
Wetting transitions have been predicted and observed to occur for various
combinations of fluids and surfaces. This paper describes the origin of such
transitions, for liquid films on solid surfaces, in terms of the gas-surface
interaction potentials V(r), which depend on the specific adsorption system.
The transitions of light inert gases and H2 molecules on alkali metal surfaces
have been explored extensively and are relatively well understood in terms of
the least attractive adsorption interactions in nature. Much less thoroughly
investigated are wetting transitions of Hg, water, heavy inert gases and other
molecular films. The basic idea is that nonwetting occurs, for energetic
reasons, if the adsorption potential's well-depth D is smaller than, or
comparable to, the well-depth of the adsorbate-adsorbate mutual interaction. At
the wetting temperature, Tw, the transition to wetting occurs, for entropic
reasons, when the liquid's surface tension is sufficiently small that the free
energy cost in forming a thick film is sufficiently compensated by the fluid-
surface interaction energy. Guidelines useful for exploring wetting transitions
of other systems are analyzed, in terms of generic criteria involving the
"simple model", which yields results in terms of gas-surface interaction
parameters and thermodynamic properties of the bulk adsorbate.Comment: Article accepted for publication in J. Low Temp. Phy
Curvature effects on the surface thickness and tension at the free interface of He systems
The thickness and the surface energy at the free interface of
superfluid He are studied. Results of calculations carried out by using
density functionals for cylindrical and spherical systems are presented in a
unified way, including a comparison with the behavior of planar slabs. It is
found that for large species is independent of the geometry. The obtained
values of are compared with prior theoretical results and experimental
data. Experimental data favor results evaluated by adopting finite range
approaches. The behavior of and exhibit overshoots
similar to that found previously for the central density, the trend of these
observables towards their asymptotic values is examined.Comment: 35 pages, TeX, 5 figures, definitive versio
Wetting transitions of Ne
We report studies of the wetting behavior of Ne on very weakly attractive
surfaces, carried out with the Grand Canonical Monte Carlo method. The Ne-Ne
interaction was taken to be of Lennard-Jones form, while the Ne-surface
interaction was derived from an ab initio calculation of Chizmeshya et al.
Nonwetting behavior was found for Li, Rb, and Cs in the temperature regime
explored (i.e., T < 42 K). Drying behavior was manifested in a depleted fluid
density near the Cs surface. In contrast, for the case of Mg (a more attractive
potential) a prewetting transition was found near T= 28 K. This temperature was
found to shift slightly when a corrugated potential was used instead of a
uniform potential. The isotherm shape and the density profiles did not differ
qualitatively between these cases.Comment: 22 pages, 12 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Dynamics of liquid He-4 in confined geometries from Time-Dependent Density Functional calculations
We present numerical results obtained from Time-Dependent Density Functional
calculations of the dynamics of liquid He-4 in different environments
characterized by geometrical confinement. The time-dependent density profile
and velocity field of He-4 are obtained by means of direct numerical
integration of the non-linear Schrodinger equation associated with a
phenomenological energy functional which describes accurately both the static
and dynamic properties of bulk liquid He-4. Our implementation allows for a
general solution in 3-D (i.e. no symmetries are assumed in order to simplify
the calculations). We apply our method to study the real-time dynamics of pure
and alkali-doped clusters, of a monolayer film on a weakly attractive surface
and a nano-droplet spreading on a solid surface.Comment: q 1 tex file + 9 Ps figure
Prewetting transitions of Ar and Ne on alkali metal surfaces
We have studied by means of Density-Functional calculations the wetting
properties of Ar and Ne adsorbed on a plane whose adsorption properties
simulate the Li and Na surfaces. We use reliable ab-initio potentials to model
the gas-substrate interactions. Evidence for prewetting transitions is found
for all the systems investigated and their wetting phase diagrams are
calculated.Comment: 6 pages, 8 figures, submitted for publication in Phys. Rev.
From nonwetting to prewetting: the asymptotic behavior of 4He drops on alkali substrates
We investigate the spreading of 4He droplets on alkali surfaces at zero
temperature, within the frame of Finite Range Density Functional theory. The
equilibrium configurations of several 4He_N clusters and their asymptotic trend
with increasing particle number N, which can be traced to the wetting behavior
of the quantum fluid, are examined for nanoscopic droplets. We discuss the size
effects, inferring that the asymptotic properties of large droplets correspond
to those of the prewetting film
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