Current reversal with type-I intermittency in deterministic inertia ratchets

The intermittency is investigated when the current reversal occurs in a deterministic inertia ratchet system. To determine which type the intermittency belongs to, we obtain the return map of velocities of particle using stroboscopic recording, and numerically calculate the distribution of average laminar length ${}$. The distribution follows the scaling law of ${} \propto {\epsilon}^{-1/2}$, the characteristic relation of type-I intermittency.Comment: 4 pages, 7 figure

Pattern Formation in Laser Induced Melting

A laser focussed onto a semiconductor film can create a disordered lamellae pattern of coexisting molten-solid regions. We present a continuum model based on the higher reflectivity of the molten regions. For large latent heat, this model becomes equivalent to a model of block copolymers. The characteristic wavenumber of the lamellae is that marginally stable to slow variations in the orientation (the zig-zag instability) and is obtained via systematic expansions from two limits. The lamellae can also be unstable to the zig-zag instability and Eckhaus instability simultaneously. This instability is a signal of dynamic steady states. We numerically study the behaviour after a quench. The lamellar size agrees with the analytic results and experiments. For shallow quenches, locally parallel stripes slowly straighten in time. For deep quenches, a disordered lamellae forms. We construct the director field and determine the orientational correlation length. Near onset the correlation is fixed by the system size. Far from onset the correlation length saturates at a finite value. We study the transition to the time-dependent asymptotic states with decreasing latent heat. postScript figures available on requestComment: 44 pages, revtex 3.

Apparent wall slip in non-Brownian hard-sphere suspensions

We analyze apparent wall slip, the reduction of particle concentration near the wall, in hard-sphere suspensions at concentrations well below the jamming limit utilizing a continuum level diffusion model. The approach extends a constitutive equation proposed earlier with two additional potentials describing the effects of gravitation and wall-particle repulsion. We find that although both mechanisms are shear independent by nature, due to the shear-rate-dependent counter-balancing particle migration fluxes, the resulting net effect is non-linearly shear dependent, causing larger slip at small shear rates. In effect, this shows up in the classically measured flow curves as a mild shear thickening regime at the transition from small to intermediate shear rates