338 research outputs found
Depinning of a vortex chain in a disordered flow channel
We study depinning of vortex chains in channels formed by static, disordered
vortex arrays. Depinning is governed either by the barrier for defect
nucleation or for defect motion, depending on whether the chain periodicity is
commensurate or incommensurate with the surrounding arrays. We analyze the
reduction of the gap between these barriers as function of disorder. At large
disorder, commensurability becomes irrelevant and the pinning force is reduced
to a small fraction of the ideal shear strength of ordered channels.
Implications for experiments on channel devices are discussed.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures. Accepted for publication in Europhysics Letter
Dynamic melting of confined vortex matter
We study {\em dynamic} melting of confined vortex matter moving in
disordered, mesoscopic channels by mode-locking experiments. The dynamic
melting transition, characterized by a collapse of the mode-locking effect,
strongly depends on the frequency, i.e. on the average velocity of the
vortices. The associated dynamic ordering velocity diverges upon approaching
the equilibrium melting line as . The
data provide the first direct evidence for velocity dependent melting and show
that the phenomenon also takes place in a system under disordered confinement.
\pacs{74.25.Qt,83.50.Ha,64.70.Dv,64.60.Ht}Comment: Some small changes have been made. 4 pages, 4 figures included.
Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Let
Depinning and dynamics of vortices confined in mesoscopic flow channels
We study the behavior of vortex matter in artificial flow channels confined
by pinned vortices in the channel edges (CE's). The critical current is
governed by the interaction with static vortices in the CE's. We study
structural changes associated with (in)commensurability between the channel
width and the natural row spacing , and their effect on . The
behavior depends crucially on the presence of disorder in the CE arrays. For
ordered CE's, maxima in occur at matching ( integer), while
for defects along the CE's cause a vanishing . For weak CE
disorder, the sharp peaks in at become smeared via nucleation
and pinning of defects. The corresponding quasi-1D row configurations can
be described by a (disordered)sine-Gordon model. For larger disorder and
, levels at of the ideal lattice strength
. Around 'half filling' (), disorder causes new
features, namely {\it misaligned} defects and coexistence of and
rows in the channel. This causes a {\it maximum} in around mismatch,
while smoothly decreases towards matching due to annealing of the
misaligned regions. We study the evolution of static and dynamic structures on
changing , the relation between modulations of and transverse
fluctuations and dynamic ordering of the arrays. The numerical results at
strong disorder show good qualitative agreement with recent mode-locking
experiments.Comment: 29 pages, 32 figure
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unemployment duration
Mode locking of vortex matter driven through mesoscopic channels
We investigated the driven dynamics of vortices confined to mesoscopic flow
channels by means of a dc-rf interference technique. The observed mode-locking
steps in the -curves provide detailed information on how the number of rows
and lattice structure in the channel change with magnetic field. Minima in flow
stress occur when an integer number of rows is moving coherently, while maxima
appear when incoherent motion of mixed and row configurations is
predominant. Simulations show that the enhanced pinning at mismatch originates
from quasi-static fault zones with misoriented edge dislocations induced by
disorder in the channel edges.Comment: some minor changes were made, 4 pages, 4 figures, accepted for
publication in Phys. Rev. Let
Wall slip and flow of concentrated hard-sphere colloidal suspensions
We present a comprehensive study of the slip and flow of concentrated
colloidal suspensions using cone-plate rheometry and simultaneous confocal
imaging. In the colloidal glass regime, for smooth, non-stick walls, the solid
nature of the suspension causes a transition in the rheology from
Herschel-Bulkley (HB) bulk flow behavior at large stress to a Bingham-like slip
behavior at low stress, which is suppressed for sufficient colloid-wall
attraction or colloid-scale wall roughness. Visualization shows how the
slip-shear transition depends on gap size and the boundary conditions at both
walls and that partial slip persist well above the yield stress. A
phenomenological model, incorporating the Bingham slip law and HB bulk flow,
fully accounts for the behavior. Microscopically, the Bingham law is related to
a thin (sub-colloidal) lubrication layer at the wall, giving rise to a
characteristic dependence of slip parameters on particle size and
concentration. We relate this to the suspension's osmotic pressure and yield
stress and also analyze the influence of van der Waals interaction. For the
largest concentrations, we observe non-uniform flow around the yield stress, in
line with recent work on bulk shear-banding of concentrated pastes. We also
describe residual slip in concentrated liquid suspensions, where the vanishing
yield stress causes coexistence of (weak) slip and bulk shear flow for all
measured rates
Dynamic ordering and frustration of confined vortex rows studied by mode-locking experiments
The flow properties of confined vortex matter driven through disordered
mesoscopic channels are investigated by mode locking (ML) experiments. The
observed ML effects allow to trace the evolution of both the structure and the
number of confined rows and their match to the channel width as function of
magnetic field. From a detailed analysis of the ML behavior for the case of
3-rows we obtain ({\it i}) the pinning frequency , ({\it ii}) the onset
frequency for ML ( ordering velocity) and ({\it iii}) the
fraction of coherently moving 3-row regions in the channel. The
field dependence of these quantities shows that, at matching, where is
maximum, the pinning strength is small and the ordering velocity is low, while
at mismatch, where is small, both the pinning force and the ordering
velocity are enhanced. Further, we find that , consistent
with the dynamic ordering theory of Koshelev and Vinokur. The microscopic
nature of the flow and the ordering phenomena will also be discussed.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figure, submitted to PRB. Discussion has been improved
and a figure has been adde
Colloidal gels under shear: Strain rate effects
Attractive colloidal particles are trapped in metastable states such as colloidal gels at high attraction strengths and attractive glasses and high volume fractions. Under shear such states flow via a two step yielding process that relates to bond and cluster or cage breaking. We discuss the way the structural properties and related stress response are affected by the shear rate. At low rates colloidal gels yield during start-up shear essentially in a single step, exhibiting a single stress overshoot due to creation of compact flowing clusters. With increasing shear rate a second stress overshoot, linked with further cluster breaking up to individual particles, is becoming more pronounced. We further present the age dependence of the two step yielding and wall slip effects often taking place during rheological experiments of colloidal gels. The latter is related both with the shear rate dependent gel structure as well as the time evolution of the near wall structure
Multiple shear-banding transitions in a supramolecular polymer solution
We report on the nonlinear rheology of a reversible supramolecular polymer based on hydrogen bonding. The coupling between the flow-induced chain alignment and breakage and recombination of bonds between monomers leads to a very unusual flow behavior. Measured velocity profiles indicate three different shear-banding regimes upon increasing shear rate, each with different characteristics. While the first of these regimes has features of a mechanical instability, the second shear-banding regime is related to a shear-induced phase separation and the appearance of birefringent textures. The shear-induced phase itself becomes unstable at very high shear rates, giving rise to a third banding regime
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