301 research outputs found
Surface melting of the vortex lattice
We discuss the effect of an (ab)-surface on the melting transition of the
pancake-vortex lattice in a layered superconductor within a density functional
theory approach. Both discontinuous and continuous surface melting are
predicted for this system, although the latter scenario occupies the major part
of the low-field phase diagram. The formation of a quasi-liquid layer below the
bulk melting temperature inhibits the appearance of a superheated solid phase,
yielding an asymmetric hysteretic behavior which has been seen in experiments.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Free energies, vacancy concentrations and density distribution anisotropies in hard--sphere crystals: A combined density functional and simulation study
We perform a comparative study of the free energies and the density
distributions in hard sphere crystals using Monte Carlo simulations and density
functional theory (employing Fundamental Measure functionals). Using a recently
introduced technique (Schilling and Schmid, J. Chem. Phys 131, 231102 (2009))
we obtain crystal free energies to a high precision. The free energies from
Fundamental Measure theory are in good agreement with the simulation results
and demonstrate the applicability of these functionals to the treatment of
other problems involving crystallization. The agreement between FMT and
simulations on the level of the free energies is also reflected in the density
distributions around single lattice sites. Overall, the peak widths and
anisotropy signs for different lattice directions agree, however, it is found
that Fundamental Measure theory gives slightly narrower peaks with more
anisotropy than seen in the simulations. Among the three types of Fundamental
Measure functionals studied, only the White Bear II functional (Hansen-Goos and
Roth, J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 18, 8413 (2006)) exhibits sensible results for
the equilibrium vacancy concentration and a physical behavior of the chemical
potential in crystals constrained by a fixed vacancy concentration.Comment: 17 pages, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Surface Melting of the Vortex Lattice in Layered Superconductors: Density Functional Theory
We study the effects of an -surface on the vortex-solid to vortex-liquid
transition in layered superconductors in the limit of vanishing inter-layer
Josephson coupling. We derive the interaction between pancake vortices in a
semi-infinite sample and adapt the density functional theory of freezing to
this system. We obtain an effective one-component order-parameter theory which
can be used to describe the effects of the surface on vortex-lattice melting.
Due to the absence of protecting layers in the neighbourhood of the surface,
the vortex lattice formed near the surface is more susceptible to thermal
fluctuations. Depending on the value of the magnetic field, we predict either a
continuous or a discontinuous surface melting transition. For intermediate
values of the magnetic field, the surface melts continuously, assisting the
formation of the liquid phase and suppressing hysteresis above the melting
transition, a prediction consistent with experimental results. For very low and
very high magnetic fields, the surface melts discontinuously. The two different
surface melting scenarios are separated by two surface multicritical points,
which we locate on the melting line.Comment: 16 pages, 12 figure
Melting of Hard Cubes
The melting transition of a system of hard cubes is studied numerically both
in the case of freely rotating cubes and when there is a fixed orientation of
the particles (parallel cubes). It is shown that freelly rotating cubes melt
through a first-order transition, whereas parallel cubes have a continuous
transition in which positional order is lost but bond-orientational order
remains finite. This is interpreted in terms of a defect-mediated theory of
meltingComment: 5 pages, 3 figures included. To appear in Phys. Rev.
Temperature Evolution of Sodium Nitrite Structure in a Restricted Geometry
The NaNO nanocomposite ferroelectric material in porous glass was
studied by neutron diffraction. For the first time the details of the crystal
structure including positions and anisotropic thermal parameters were
determined for the solid material, embedded in a porous matrix, in ferro- and
paraelectric phases. It is demonstrated that in the ferroelectric phase the
structure is consistent with bulk data but above transition temperature the
giant growth of amplitudes of thermal vibrations is observed, resulting in the
formation of a "premelted state". Such a conclusion is in a good agreement with
the results of dielectric measurements published earlier.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Giga-Hertz quantized charge pumping in bottom gate defined InAs nanowire quantum dots
Semiconducting nanowires (NWs) are a versatile, highly tunable material
platform at the heart of many new developments in nanoscale and quantum
physics. Here, we demonstrate charge pumping, i.e., the controlled transport of
individual electrons through an InAs NW quantum dot (QD) device at frequencies
up to GHz. The QD is induced electrostatically in the NW by a series of
local bottom gates in a state of the art device geometry. A periodic modulation
of a single gate is enough to obtain a dc current proportional to the frequency
of the modulation. The dc bias, the modulation amplitude and the gate voltages
on the local gates can be used to control the number of charges conveyed per
cycle. Charge pumping in InAs NWs is relevant not only in metrology as a
current standard, but also opens up the opportunity to investigate a variety of
exotic states of matter, e.g. Majorana modes, by single electron spectroscopy
and correlation experiments.Comment: 21 page
Isomorphs, hidden scale invariance, and quasiuniversality
This paper first establishes an approximate scaling property of the
potential-energy function of a classical liquid with good isomorphs (a
Roskilde-simple liquid). This "pseudohomogeneous" property makes explicit that
- and in which sense - such a system has a hidden scale invariance. The second
part gives a potential-energy formulation of the quasiuniversality of monatomic
Roskilde-simple liquids, which was recently rationalized in terms of the
existence of a quasiuniversal single-parameter family of reduced-coordinate
constant-potential-energy hypersurfaces [J. C. Dyre, Phys. Rev. E 87, 022106
(2013)]. The new formulation involves a quasiuniversal reduced-coordinate
potential-energy function. A few consequences of this are discussed
Simplicity of condensed matter at its core: Generic definition of a Roskilde-simple system
The theory of isomorphs is reformulated by defining Roskilde-simple systems
(those with isomorphs) by the property that the order of the potential energies
of configurations at one density is maintained when these are scaled uniformly
to a different density. Isomorphs remain curves in the thermodynamic phase
diagram along which structure, dynamics, and excess entropy are invariant,
implying that the phase diagram is effectively one-dimensional with respect to
many reduced-unit properties. In contrast to the original formulation of the
isomorph theory, however, the density-scaling exponent is not exclusively a
function of density and the isochoric heat capacity is not an exact isomorph
invariant. A prediction is given for the latter quantity's variation along the
isomorphs. Molecular dynamics simulations of the Lennard-Jones and
Lennard-Jones Gaussian systems validate the new approach
Isomorph invariance of the structure and dynamics of classical crystals
This paper shows by computer simulations that some crystalline systems have
curves in their thermodynamic phase diagrams, so-called isomorphs, along which
structure and dynamics in reduced units are invariant to a good approximation.
The crystals are studied in a classical-mechanical framework, which is
generally a good description except significantly below melting. The existence
of isomorphs for crystals is validated by simulations of particles interacting
via the Lennard-Jones pair potential arranged into a face-centered cubic (FCC)
crystalline structure; the slow vacancy-jump dynamics of a defective FCC
crystal is also shown to be isomorph invariant. In contrast, a NaCl crystal
model does not exhibit isomorph invariances. Other systems simulated, though in
less detail, are the Wahnstrom binary Lennard-Jones crystal with the Laves crystal structure, monatomic FCC crystals of particles
interacting via the Buckingham pair potential and via a novel purely repulsive
pair potential diverging at a finite separation, an ortho-terphenyl molecular
model, and SPC/E hexagonal ice. Except for NaCl and ice, the crystals simulated
all have isomorphs. Based on these findings and previous simulations of liquid
models, we conjecture that crystalline solids with isomorphs include most or
all formed by atoms or molecules interacting via metallic or van der Waals
forces, whereas covalently- or hydrogen-bonded crystals are not expected to
have isomorphs. Crystals of ions or dipolar molecules constitute a limiting
case for which isomorphs are only expected when the Coulomb interactions are
relatively weak. We briefly discuss the consequences of the findings for
theories of melting and crystallization
Contribution to the understanding of tribological properties of graphite intercalation compounds with metal chloride
Intrinsic tribological properties of lamellar compounds are usually attributed to the presence of van der Waals gaps in their structure through which interlayer interactions are weak. The controlled variation of the distances and interactions between graphene layers by intercalation of electrophilic species in graphite is used in order to explore more deeply the friction reduction properties of low-dimensional compounds. Three graphite intercalation compounds with antimony pentachloride, iron trichloride and aluminium trichloride are studied. Their tribological properties are correlated to their structural parameters, and the interlayer interactions are deduced from ab initio bands structure calculations
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