209 research outputs found
Asymptotic laws for tagged-particle motion in glassy systems
Within the mode-coupling theory for structural relaxation in simple systems
the asymptotic laws and their leading-asymptotic correction formulas are
derived for the motion of a tagged particle near a glass-transition
singularity. These analytic results are compared with numerical ones of the
equations of motion evaluated for a tagged hard sphere moving in a hard-sphere
system. It is found that the long-time part of the two-step relaxation process
for the mean-squared displacement can be characterized by the -relaxation-scaling law and von Schweidler's power-law decay while the
critical-decay regime is dominated by the corrections to the leading power-law
behavior. For parameters of interest for the interpretations of experimental
data, the corrections to the leading asymptotic laws for the non-Gaussian
parameter are found to be so large that the leading asymptotic results are
altered qualitatively by the corrections. Results for the non-Gaussian
parameter are shown to follow qualitatively the findings reported in the
molecular-dynamics-simulations work by Kob and Andersen [Phys. Rev. E 51, 4626
(1995)]
A quantitative test of the mode-coupling theory of the ideal glass transition for a binary Lennard-Jones system
Using a molecular dynamics computer simulation we determine the temperature
dependence of the partial structure factors for a binary Lennard-Jones system.
These structure factors are used as input data to solve numerically the
wave-vector dependent mode-coupling equations in the long time limit. Using the
so determined solutions, we compare the predictions of mode-coupling theory
(MCT) with the results of a previously done molecular dynamics computer
simulation [Phys. Rev. E 51, 4626 (1995), ibid. 52, 4134 (1995)]. From this
comparison we conclude that MCT gives a fair estimate of the critical coupling
constant, a good estimate of the exponent parameter, predicts the wave-vector
dependence of the various nonergodicity parameters very well, except for very
large wave-vectors, and gives also a very good description of the space
dependence of the various critical amplitudes. In an attempt to correct for
some of the remaining discrepancies between the theory and the results of the
simulation, we investigate two small (ad hoc) modifications of the theory. We
find that one modification gives a worse agreement between theory and
simulation, whereas the second one leads to an improved agreement.Comment: Figures available from W. Ko
Differential Cyclic Voltammetry - a Novel Technique for Selective and Simultaneous Detection using Redox Cycling Based Sensors
Redox cycling (RC) is an effect that is used to amplify electrochemical signals. However, traditional techniques such as cyclic voltammetry (CV) do not provide clear insight for a mixture of multiple redox couples while RC is applied. Thus, we have developed a new measurement technique which delivers electrochemical spectra of all reversible redox couples present based on concentrations and standard potentials. This technique has been named differential cyclic voltammetry (DCV). We have fabricated micrometer-sized interdigitated electrode (IDE) sensors to conduct DCV measurements in mixtures of 1mM catechol and 4mM [Ru(NH3)6]Cl3. To simulate the electrochemical behavior of these sensors we have also developed a finite element model (FEM) in ComsolÂź. The\ud
experimental data corresponds to the calculated spectra obtained from simulations. Additionally, the measured spectra can be used to easily derive standard potentials and concentrations simultaneously and selectively.\u
Higher order glass-transition singularities in colloidal systems with attractive interactions
The transition from a liquid to a glass in colloidal suspensions of particles
interacting through a hard core plus an attractive square-well potential is
studied within the mode-coupling-theory framework. When the width of the
attractive potential is much shorter than the hard-core diameter, a reentrant
behavior of the liquid-glass line, and a glass-glass-transition line are found
in the temperature-density plane of the model. For small well-width values, the
glass-glass-transition line terminates in a third order bifurcation point, i.e.
in a A_3 (cusp) singularity. On increasing the square-well width, the
glass-glass line disappears, giving rise to a fourth order A_4 (swallow-tail)
singularity at a critical well width. Close to the A_3 and A_4 singularities
the decay of the density correlators shows stretching of huge dynamical
windows, in particular logarithmic time dependence.Comment: 19 pages, 12 figures, Phys. Rev. E, in prin
Aspects of the dynamics of colloidal suspensions: Further results of the mode-coupling theory of structural relaxation
Results of the idealized mode-coupling theory for the structural relaxation
in suspensions of hard-sphere colloidal particles are presented and discussed
with regard to recent light scattering experiments. The structural relaxation
becomes non-diffusive for long times, contrary to the expectation based on the
de Gennes narrowing concept. A semi-quantitative connection of the wave vector
dependences of the relaxation times and amplitudes of the final
-relaxation explains the approximate scaling observed by Segr{\`e} and
Pusey [Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 77}, 771 (1996)]. Asymptotic expansions lead to a
qualitative understanding of density dependences in generalized Stokes-Einstein
relations. This relation is also generalized to non-zero frequencies thereby
yielding support for a reasoning by Mason and Weitz [Phys. Rev. Lett {\bf 74},
1250 (1995)]. The dynamics transient to the structural relaxation is discussed
with models incorporating short-time diffusion and hydrodynamic interactions
for short times.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figures; to be published in Phys. Rev.
Direct visualization of aging in colloidal glasses
We use confocal microscopy to directly visualize the dynamics of aging
colloidal glasses. We prepare a colloidal suspension at high density, a simple
model system which shares many properties with other glasses, and initiate
experiments by stirring the sample. We follow the motion of several thousand
colloidal particles after the stirring and observe that their motion
significantly slows as the sample ages. The aging is both spatially and
temporally heterogeneous. Furthermore, while the characteristic relaxation time
scale grows with the age of the sample, nontrivial particle motions continue to
occur on all time scales.Comment: submitted to proceedings for Liquid Matter Conference 200
Dynamics of hard-sphere suspension using Dynamic Light Scattering and X-Ray Photon Correlation Spectroscopy: dynamics and scaling of the Intermediate Scattering Function
Intermediate Scattering Functions (ISF's) are measured for colloidal hard
sphere systems using both Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS) and X-ray Photon
Correlation Spectroscopy (XPCS). We compare the techniques, and discuss the
advantages and disadvantages of each. Both techniques agree in the overlapping
range of scattering vectors. We investigate the scaling behaviour found by
Segre and Pusey [1] but challenged by Lurio et al. [2]. We observe a scaling
behaviour over several decades in time but not in the long time regime.
Moreover, we do not observe long time diffusive regimes at scattering vectors
away from the peak of the structure factor and so question the existence of a
long time diffusion coefficients at these scattering vectors.Comment: 21 pages, 11 figure
How does the relaxation of a supercooled liquid depend on its microscopic dynamics?
Using molecular dynamics computer simulations we investigate how the
relaxation dynamics of a simple supercooled liquid with Newtonian dynamics
differs from the one with a stochastic dynamics. We find that, apart from the
early beta-relaxation regime, the two dynamics give rise to the same relaxation
behavior. The increase of the relaxation times of the system upon cooling, the
details of the alpha-relaxation, as well as the wave vector dependence of the
Edwards-Anderson-parameters are independent of the microscopic dynamics.Comment: 6 pages of Latex, 4 figure
Ageing dynamics of colloidal hard sphere glasses
We report results of dynamic light scattering measurements of the coherent
intermediate scattering function (ISF) of glasses of hard spheres for several
volume fractions and a range of scattering vectors around the primary maximum
of the static structure factor. The ISF shows a clear crossover from an initial
fast decay to a slower non-stationary decay. Ageing is quantified in several
different ways. However, regardless of the method chosen, the perfect "aged"
glass is approached in a power-law fashion. In particular, the coupling between
the fast and slow decays, as measured by the degree of stretching of the ISF at
the crossover, also decreases algebraically with waiting time. The
non-stationarity of this coupling implies that even the fastest detectable
processes are themselves non-stationary.Comment: 28 pages, including 3 tables and 17 figure
- âŠ