888 research outputs found
The role of local structure in dynamical arrest
Amorphous solids, or glasses, are distinguished from crystalline solids by
their lack of long-range structural order. At the level of two-body structural
correlations, glassformers show no qualitative change upon vitrifying from a
supercooled liquid. Nonetheless the dynamical properties of a glass are so much
slower that it appears to take on the properties of a solid. While many
theories of the glass transition focus on dynamical quantities, a solid's
resistance to flow is often viewed as a consequence of its structure. Here we
address the viewpoint that this remains the case for a glass. Recent
developments using higher-order measures show a clear emergence of structure
upon dynamical arrest in a variety of glass formers and offer the tantalising
hope of a structural mechanism for arrest. However a rigorous fundamental
identification of such a causal link between structure and arrest remains
elusive. We undertake a critical survey of this work in experiments, computer
simulation and theory and discuss what might strengthen the link between
structure and dynamical arrest. We move on to highlight the relationship
between crystallisation and glass-forming ability made possible by this deeper
understanding of the structure of the liquid state, and emphasize the potential
to design materials with optimal glassforming and crystallisation ability, for
applications such as phase-change memory. We then consider aspects of the
phenomenology of glassy systems where structural measures have yet to make a
large impact, such as polyamorphism (the existence of multiple liquid states),
aging (the time-evolution of non-equilibrium materials below their glass
transition) and the response of glassy materials to external fields such as
shear.Comment: 70 page
Identification of structure in condensed matter with the topological cluster classification
We describe the topological cluster classification (TCC) algorithm. The TCC
detects local structures with bond topologies similar to isolated clusters
which minimise the potential energy for a number of monatomic and binary simple
liquids with particles. We detail a modified Voronoi bond detection
method that optimizes the cluster detection. The method to identify each
cluster is outlined, and a test example of Lennard-Jones liquid and crystal
phases is considered and critically examined.Comment: 28 pages, 28 figure
A structural comparison of models of colloid-polymer mixtures
We study the structure of colloidal fluids with reference to colloid-polymer
mixtures. We compare the one component description of the Asakura-Oosawa (AO)
idealisation of colloid-polymer mixtures with the full two-component model. We
also consider the Morse potential, a variable range interaction, for which the
ground state clusters are known. Mapping the state points between these
systems, we find that the pair structure of the full AO model is equally well
described by the Morse potential or the one component AO approach. We employ a
recently developed method to identify in the bulk fluid the ground state
clusters relevant to the Morse potential. Surprisingly, when we measure the
cluster populations, we find that the Morse fluid is significantly closer the
full AO fluid than the one component AO description.Comment: 13 pages, accepted by J. Phys. Condens: Matter special issue for
CECAM meeting 'New Trends in Simulating Colloids: from Models to
Applications
Long-Lived Non-Equilibrium Interstitial-Solid-Solutions in Binary Mixtures
We perform particle resolved experimental studies on the heterogeneous
crystallisation process of two compo- nent mixtures of hard spheres. The
components have a size ratio of 0.39. We compared these with molecular dynamics
simulations of homogenous nucleation. We find for both experiments and
simulations that the final assemblies are interstitial solid solutions, where
the large particles form crystalline close-packed lattices, whereas the small
particles occupy random interstitial sites. This interstitial solution
resembles that found at equilibrium when the size ratios are 0.3 [Filion et
al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 168302 (2011)] and 0.4 [Filion, PhD Thesis, Utrecht
University (2011)]. However, unlike these previous studies, for our system sim-
ulations showed that the small particles are trapped in the octahedral holes of
the ordered structure formed by the large particles, leading to long-lived
non-equilibrium structures in the time scales studied and not the equilibrium
interstitial solutions found earlier. Interestingly, the percentage of small
particles in the crystal formed by the large ones rapidly reaches a maximum of
around 14% for most of the packing fractions tested, unlike previous
predictions where the occupancy of the interstitial sites increases with the
system concentration. Finally, no further hopping of the small particles was
observed
Context effect and confirmation bias in criminal fact finding
Purpose: Fact finding is an important part of the job of criminal trial judges and juries. In the literature, several potential pitfalls hindering fact finding have been identified, such as context effects (i.e. an unintended effect of non-probative information on conviction) and confirmation bias (i.e. a skewed selection of and overreliance on guilt-confirming evidence and neglect of exonerating information). In the present study, the effect of irrelevant contextual information on conviction and subsequent confirmation bias was tested. Method: A sample of Dutch professional criminal trial judges (N = 105) studied a case file and decided on their conviction of the suspect’s guilt, and subsequent investigation endeavours. There were two versions of the file, differing in non-probative details that might affect conviction, such as crime severity and facial appearance of the suspect. Results: Findings suggest that context information indeed affected conviction, and the subsequent preference for guilt-confirming investigation endeavours. Conclusion: Professional judges may be susceptible to bias threatening the objectivity of legal decision-making
Local structure of Liquid-Vapour Interfaces
The structure of a simple liquid may be characterised in terms of ground
state clusters of small numbers of atoms of that same liquid. Here we use this
sensitive structural probe to consider the effect of a liquid-vapour interface
upon the liquid structure. At higher temperatures (above around half the
critical temperature) we find that the predominant effect of the interface is
to reduce the local density, which significantly suppresses the local cluster
populations. At lower temperatures, however, pronounced interfacial layering is
found. This appears to be connected with significant orientational ordering of
clusters based on 3- and 5-membered rings, with the rings aligning
perpendicular and parallel to the interface respectively. At all temperatures,
we find that the population of five-fold symmetric structures is suppressed,
rather than enhanced, close to the interface.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication by Molecular Physic
The equilibrium intrinsic crystal-liquid interface of colloids
We use confocal microscopy to study an equilibrated crystal-liquid interface
in a colloidal suspension. Capillary waves roughen the surface, but locally the
intrinsic interface is sharply defined. We use local measurements of the
structure and dynamics to characterize the intrinsic interface, and different
measurements find slightly different widths of this interface. In terms of the
particle diameter , this width is either (based on structural
information) or (based on dynamics), both not much larger than the
particle size. This work is the first direct experimental visualization of an
equilibrated crystal-liquid interface.Comment: 6 pages; revised version, submitted to PNA
On-chip electrically controlled routing of photons from a single quantum dot
Electrical control of on-chip routing of photons emitted by a single InAs/GaAs self-assembled quantum dot (SAQD) is demonstrated in a photonic crystal cavity-waveguide system. The SAQD is located inside an H1 cavity, which is coupled to two photonic crystal waveguides. The SAQD emission wavelength is electrically tunable by the quantum-confined Stark effect. When the SAQD emission is brought into resonance with one of two H1 cavity modes, it is preferentially routed to the waveguide to which that mode is selectively coupled. This proof of concept provides the basis for scalable, low-power, high-speed operation of single-photon routers for use in integrated quantum photonic circuits
Identification of structure in condensed matter with the topological cluster classification
We describe the topological cluster classification (TCC) algorithm. The TCC
detects local structures with bond topologies similar to isolated clusters
which minimise the potential energy for a number of monatomic and binary simple
liquids with particles. We detail a modified Voronoi bond detection
method that optimizes the cluster detection. The method to identify each
cluster is outlined, and a test example of Lennard-Jones liquid and crystal
phases is considered and critically examined
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