Anisotropic Interaction Potential Research Articles

Aligned colloidal clusters in an alternating rotating magnetic field elucidated by magnetic relaxation

Precise control at the colloidal scale is one of the most promising bottom-up approaches to fabricating new materials and devices with tunable and precisely engineered properties. Magnetically driven colloidal assembly offers great versatility because of the ability to externally tune particle-particle interactions and to construct a host of particle arrangements. However, despite previous efforts to probe the parameter space, global orientational control in conjunction with two-dimensional microstructural control has remained out of reach. Furthermore, the magnetic relaxation time of superparamagnetic beads has been largely overlooked despite being a key feature of the magnetic response. Here, we take advantage of the magnetic relaxation time of superparamagnetic beads in an alternating rotating magnetic field and show how harnessing this feature facilitates the formation of oriented clusters. The orientation of these clusters can be controlled by field parameters. Using experiments, simulations, and theory, we probe a two-particle system (dimer) under this alternating rotating magnetic field and use its dynamics to provide insights into the collective response that forms clusters. We find that the type of field has significant implications for the dipolar interactions between the colloids because of the nonnegligible magnetic relaxation. Moreover, we find that the competing time scales of the magnetic relaxation and the alternating field generate an anisotropic interaction potential that drives cluster alignment. By exploiting the magnetic relaxation time of magnetic systems, we can tailor new types of interparticle interactions, thereby expanding the capabilities of colloidal assembly in engineering unique materials and devices.

Accurately computed H2–He collision-induced absorption coefficients for modeling of planetary atmospheres

Accurate collision-induced absorption profiles for H2–He pairs, in the rototranslational band of H2, are computed accounting for the full anisotropic interaction potential. The calculations are time consuming and complicated compared to those pursued in the isotropic potential approximation. A machine learning approach is implemented in order to produce highly accurate data on a dense frequency grid, by combining data computed in the full calculation with those from the isotropic approximation. Thus an extensive, highly accurate, data base can be obtained for a set of frequencies, temperatures, and ortho-H2/para-H2 fractions, appropriate for use in modeling of planetary atmospheres, in particular of the gas giants.

Results for an anisotropic Coulomb interaction potential

Studies of systems of particles interacting with an anisotropic interaction potential are generally much more difficult than those with an isotropic interaction potential. In this work we analyze the properties of an anisotropic Coulomb interaction potential that has been recently considered mainly in studies of quantum Hall liquids. It is shown that this interaction potential has interesting properties that allow one to speculate, on a qualitative basis, the possible existence of novel phases of matter with liquid crystalline order in its presence.

Driven superconducting vortex dynamics in systems with twofold anisotropy in the presence of pinning

We examine the dynamics of superconducting vortices with twofold anisotropic interaction potentials driven over random pinning, and compare the behavior under drives applied along the hard and the soft anisotropy directions. As the driving force increases, the number of topological defects reaches a maximum near the depinning threshold, and then decreases as the vortices form one-dimensional (1D) chains. This coincides with a transition from a pinned nematic to a moving smectic aligned with the soft anisotropy direction. The system is generally more ordered when the drive is applied along the soft direction of the anisotropy. For driving along the hard direction, there is a critical value of the twofold anisotropy above which the system remains aligned with the soft direction. Hysteretic behavior appears upon cycling the driving force, with 1D vortex chains persisting during the decreasing leg below the threshold for chain formation for increasing drive. More anisotropic systems have a greater amount of structural disorder in the moving state. For lower anisotropy, the system forms a moving smectic-A state, while at higher anisotropy, a moving nematic state appears instead.

Origin of the anisotropic Coulomb interaction potential for a two-dimensional system of charged particles with anisotropic mass

There have been several studies that have considered an anisotropic Coulomb interaction potential of a specific form to model anisotropic quantum Hall states of two-dimensional systems of electrons in a perpendicular constant magnetic field. The motivation and justification behind such a choice is tacitly implied without providing too many details. This work explains the physical reasons that lead to an anisotropic Coulomb interaction potential of such a form for the case of a two-dimensional system of charged particles with anisotropic effective band mass.

Integer quantum Hall effect with an anisotropic Coulomb interaction potential

We consider the properties of an integer quantum Hall effect state at filling factor one of the lowest Landau level in presence of an anisotropic Coulomb interaction potential. We adopt a disk geometry and calculate analytically the energy per particle corresponding to a system in the thermodynamic limit. It is found that the main effect of this particular anisotropic Coulomb interaction potential is an overall increase of the energy. The energy of the state at filling factor one in presence of this anisotropic Coulomb interaction potential can be scaled to that of the isotropic Coulomb counterpart by a scaling function tuned by the interaction anisotropy parameter.

Deformation of the Fermi surface of a spinless two-dimensional electron gas in presence of an anisotropic Coulomb interaction potential

We consider the stability of the circular Fermi surface of a two-dimensional electron gas system against an elliptical deformation induced by an anisotropic Coulomb interaction potential. We use the jellium approximation for the neutralizing background and treat the electrons as fully spin-polarized (spinless) particles with a constant isotropic (effective) mass. The anisotropic Coulomb interaction potential considered in this work is inspired from studies of two-dimensional electron gas systems in the quantum Hall regime. We use a Hartree–Fock procedure to obtain analytical results for two special Fermi liquid quantum electronic phases. The first one corresponds to a system with circular Fermi surface while the second one corresponds to a liquid anisotropic phase with a specific elliptical deformation of the Fermi surface that gives rise to the lowest possible potential energy of the system. The results obtained suggest that, for the most general situations, neither of these two Fermi liquid phases represent the lowest energy state of the system within the framework of the family of states considered in this work. The lowest energy phase is one with an optimal elliptical deformation whose specific value is determined by a complex interplay of many factors including the density of the system.

Density functional theory of fluid-solid phase transition in a two-dimensional system of superparamagnetic colloids in tilted magnetic field

We have used density functional theory (DFT) of freezing to investigate the fluid-solid phase transition in a system of super-paramagnetic colloidal particles confined to a two dimensional plane and exposed to an external magnetic field which is tilted from the direction parallel to the plane. Magnetic field induces magnetic moment in the particles which are directed along the field. Because of the tilted induced magnetic moments, particles interact via anisotropic repulsive dipole-dipole interaction potential. We solve the Ornstein-Zernike(OZ)equation within the hypernetted chain (HNC) approximation to obtain the pair-correlation functions (PCF), which are used as structural input in DFT. All the pair functions were expanded in a suitable orthogonal basis and the expansion coefficients were determined by using the method of Fries and Patey [32] which leads to an unphysical negative contact value of radial distribution functions. We have employed a method similar to that of Hansen and Hayter [35], to resolve this issue. The accuracy of the resulting PCFs are tested by performing NVT Monte Carlo simulation. We found that for the tilt angle of the external field in the range 900 to 750, the fluid freezes into triangular solid, beyond which DFT fails to stabilize the solids considered in this work.

A uniformly charged circular disk with an anisotropic Coulomb interaction potential

We consider a uniformly charged circular disk containing elementary charges that interact with an anisotropic Coulomb interaction potential. Such an anisotropic Coulomb interaction potential has been recently considered within the framework of a two-dimensional system of electrons in the quantum Hall regime. The anisotropy of the potential is introduced by a phenomenological parameter that can be tuned continuously as to incorporate the standard isotropic Coulomb interaction potential as a special case. The energy of the uniformly charged circular disk is calculated exactly for the given anisotropic interaction potential as a function of the anisotropy parameter. The results obtained are related to electrostatic problems that involve uniformly charged flat elliptical plates and may be useful to understand finite two-dimensional systems of electrons in the quantum Hall regime in which all point charges interact with the anisotropic Coulomb interaction potential presently considered.

Impact of an elliptical Fermi surface deformation on the energy of a spinless two-dimensional electron gas

We study the effects of an elliptical Fermi surface deformation on the energy of a two-dimensional electron gas. We consider a standard model for fully spin-polarized (spinless) electrons embedded in a uniformly charged neutralizing jellium background and treat the system in the thermodynamic (bulk) limit. We calculate exactly the energy changes of the system as a function of a parameter that gauges the elliptic deformation of the Fermi surface. The results obtained give insight on various scenarios and competing tendencies that may arise in such a system in presence of some form of internal anisotropy originating from factors such as electron’s anisotropic effective mass, anisotropic interaction potential or both.

Asymptotic analysis of the Ginzburg–Landau functional on point clouds

AbstractThe Ginzburg–Landau functional is a phase transition model which is suitable for classification type problems. We study the asymptotics of a sequence of Ginzburg–Landau functionals with anisotropic interaction potentials on point clouds Ψnwherendenotes the number data points. In particular, we show the limiting problem, in the sense of Γ-convergence, is related to the total variation norm restricted to functions taking binary values, which can be understood as a surface energy. We generalize the result known for isotropic interaction potentials to the anisotropic case and add a result concerning the rate of convergence.

Emergence of liquid crystalline order in the lowest Landau level of a quantum Hall system with internal anisotropy

It has now become evident that interplay between internal anisotropy parameters (such as electron mass anisotropy and/or anisotropic coupling of electrons to the substrate) and electron-electron correlation effects can create a rich variety of possibilities especially in quantum Hall systems. The electron mass anisotropy or material substrate effects (for example, the piezoelectric effect in GaAs) can lead to an effective anisotropic interaction potential between electrons. For lack of knowledge of realistic ab-initio potentials that may describe such effects, we adopt a phenomenological approach and assume that an anisotropic Coulomb interaction potential mimics the internal anisotropy of the system. In this work we investigate the emergence of liquid crystalline order at filling factor ν = 1/6 of the lowest Landau level, a state very close to the point where a transition from the liquid to the Wigner solid happens. We consider small finite systems of electrons interacting with an anisotropic Coulomb interaction potential and study the energy stability of an anisotropic liquid crystalline state relative to its isotropic Fermi-liquid counterpart. Quantum Monte Carlo simulation results in disk geometry show stabilization of liquid crystalline order driven by an anisotropic Coulomb interaction potential at all values of the interaction anisotropy parameter studied.

Shear-Induced Alignment of Janus Particle Lamellar Structures

Control over the alignment of colloidal structures plays a crucial role in advanced reconfigurable materials. In this work, we study the alignment of Janus particle lamellar structures under shear flow via Brownian dynamics simulations. Lamellar alignment (orientation relative to flow direction) is measured as a function of the Péclet number (Pe)-the ratio of the viscous shear to the Brownian forces-the particle volume fraction, and the strength of the anisotropic interaction potential made dimensionless with thermal energy. Under conditions where lamellar structures are formed, three orientation regimes are observed: (1) random orientation for very small Pe, (2) parallel orientation-lamellae with their normals parallel to the direction of the velocity gradient-for intermediate values of Pe, and (3) perpendicular orientation-lamellae with their normals parallel to the vorticity direction-for large Pe. To understand the alignment mechanism, we carry out a scaling analysis of competing torques between a pair of particles in the lamellar structure. Our results suggest that the change of parallel to perpendicular orientation is independent of the particle volume fraction and is caused by the hydrodynamic and Brownian torques on the particles overcoming the torques resulting from the interparticle interactions. This initial study of shear-induced alignment on lamellar structures formed by Janus colloidal particles also opens the door for future applications where a reversible actuator for structure orientation is required.

Anisotropic magnetoresistance and piezoelectric effect in GaAs Hall samples

In this work, we argue that an anisotropic interaction potential may stabilize anisotropic liquid phases of electrons even in a strong magnetic field regime where normally one expects to see only isotropic quantum Hall or isotropic Fermi liquid states. We use this approach to support a theoretical framework that envisions the possibility of an anisotropic liquid crystalline state of electrons in the lowest Landau level. In particular, we argue that an anisotropic liquid state of electrons may stabilize in the lowest Landau level close to the liquid-solid transition region at filling factor $\nu=1/6$ for a given anisotropic Coulomb interaction potential. Quantum Monte Carlo simulations for a liquid crystalline state with broken rotational symmetry indicate stability of liquid crystalline order consistent with the existence of an anisotropic liquid state of electrons stabilized by anisotropy at filling factor $\nu=1/6$ of the lowest Landau level.

Anisotropic electronic states in the fractional quantum Hall regime

Recent experiments indicate the presence of new anisotropic fractional quantum Hall states at regimes not anticipated before. These experiments raise many fundamental questions regarding the inner nature of the electronic system that leads to such anisotropic states. Interplay between electron mass anisotropy and electron-electron correlation effects in a magnetic field can create a rich variety of possibilities. Several anisotropic electronic states ranging from anisotropic quantum Hall liquids to anisotropic Wigner solids may stabilize due to such effects. The electron mass anisotropy in a two-dimensional electron gas effectively leads to an anisotropic Coulomb interaction potential between electrons. An anisotropic interaction potential may strongly influence the stability of various quantum phases that are close in energy since the overall stability of an electronic system is very sensitive to local order. As a result there is a possibility that various anisotropic electronic phases may emerge even in the lowest Landau level in regimes where one would not expect them. In this work we study the state with filling factor 1/6 in the lowest Landau level, a state which is very close to the critical filling factor where the liquid-solid transition takes place. We investigate whether an anisotropic Coulomb interaction potential is able to stabilize an anisotropic electronic liquid state at this filling factor. We describe such an anisotropic state by means of a liquid crystalline wave function with broken rotational symmetry which can be adiabatically connected to the actual wave function for the corresponding isotropic phase. We perform quantum Monte Carlo simulations in a disk geometry to study the properties of the anisotropic electronic liquid state under consideration. The findings indicate stability of liquid crystalline order in presence of an anisotropic Coulomb interaction potential. The results are consistent with the existence of an anisotropic electronic liquid state in the lowest Landau level.

Dusty plasma as a unique object of plasma physics

The self-consistency and basic openness of dusty plasma, charge fluctuations, high dissipation and other features of dusty plasma system lead to the appearance of a number of unusual and unique properties of dusty plasma. “Anomalous” heating of dusty particles, anisotropy of temperatures and other features, parametric resonance, charge fluctuations and interaction potential are among these unique properties. Study is based on analytical approach and numerical simulation. Mechanisms of “anomalous” heating and energy transfer are proposed. Influence of charge fluctuations on the system properties is discussed. The self-consistent, many-particle, fluctuation and anisotropic interparticle interaction potential is studied for a significant range of gas temperature. These properties are interconnected and necessary for a full description of dusty plasmas physics.

Infrared Stark and Zeeman spectroscopy of OH-CO: The entrance channel complex along the OH + CO → trans-HOCO reaction pathway.

Sequential capture of OH and CO by superfluid helium droplets leads exclusively to the formation of the linear, entrance-channel complex, OH-CO. This species is characterized by infrared laser Stark and Zeeman spectroscopy via measurements of the fundamental OH stretching vibration. Experimental dipole moments are in disagreement with ab initio calculations at the equilibrium geometry, indicating large-amplitude motion on the ground state potential energy surface. Vibrational averaging along the hydroxyl bending coordinate recovers 80% of the observed deviation from the equilibrium dipole moment. Inhomogeneous line broadening in the zero-field spectrum is modeled with an effective Hamiltonian approach that aims to account for the anisotropic molecule-helium interaction potential that arises as the OH-CO complex is displaced from the center of the droplet.

Monte Carlo simulations of vector pseudospins for strains: Microstructures and martensitic conversion times

We present systematic temperature-quench Monte Carlo simulations on discrete-strain pseudospin model Hamiltonians to study microstructural evolutions in ferroelastic transitions with two-component vector order parameters (NOP=2) in 2-spatial dimensions. The zero value pseudospin is the single high-temperature phase while the low-temperature phase has Nv variants. Thus the number of nonzero values of pseudospin are triangle-to-centered rectangle (Nv=3), square-to-oblique (Nv=4) and triangle-to-oblique (Nv=6). The model Hamiltonians contain a transition-specific Landau energy term, a domain wall cost or Ginzburg term, and power-law anisotropic interaction potential, induced from a strain compatibility condition. On quenching below a transition temperature, we find behaviour similar to the previously studied square-to-rectangle transition (NOP=1,Nv=2), showing that the rich behaviour found, is generic. Thus we find for two-component order parameters that the same Hamiltonian can describe both athermal and isothermal martensite regimes for different material parameters. The athermal/isothermal/austenite parameter regimes and temperature–time–transformation diagrams are understood, as previously, through parametrization of effective-droplet energies. In the athermal regime, we find rapid conversions below a spinodal-like temperature and austenite-martensite conversion delays above it, as in the experiment. The delays show early incubation behaviour, and at the transition to austenite the delay times have Vogel–Fulcher divergences and are insensitive to Hamiltonian energy scales, suggesting that entropy barriers are dominant. Systematic temperature quench experiments can look for martensite formation and growth during conversion-incubations, divergences, and distributions close to the transition.

Rich Janus colloid phase behavior under steady shear.

We study the assembly of single-patch colloidal Janus particles under steady shear flow via Brownian dynamics simulations. In the absence of flow, by varying the Janus patch size and the range and strength of the anisotropic interaction potential, Janus colloids form different aggregates such as micelles, wormlike clusters, vesicles and lamellae. Under shear flow we observe rearrangement, deformation, and break-up of aggregates. At small and intermediate Péclet (Pe) numbers-the ratio between shear and Brownian forces-the competition between rearrangement, deformation, and break-up favors the growth of micelles and vesicles increasing mean cluster size, which is consistent with a previous numerical study of Janus particles under shear. This initial shear-induced growth causes micelles and vesicles to reach a maximum cluster size at Pe ≈ 1 and Pe ≈ 10, respectively. After this growth micelles dissociate continuously to reach a dilute colloidal "gas phase" at Pe ≈ 10 while vesicles dissociate into micelles with high aspect ratio at Pe ≈ 10 and finally break-up into a gas phase at Pe ≈ 30. Wormlike clusters initially break-up into micelles with high aspect ratio at Pe ≈ 0.1, and proceed to finally reach a gas phase at Pe ≈ 10. Lamellae initially break into smaller lamellae that align with the flow in the velocity-velocity-gradient plane and finally break-up into a gas phase at Pe ≈ 100. The different cluster sizes and morphologies observed as functions of interaction range, Janus patch size, interaction strength, and shear rate, open new actuation routes for reconfigurable materials and applications.

Emergence of Chaotic Scattering in Ultracold Er and Dy.

We show that for ultracold magnetic lanthanide atoms chaotic scattering emerges due to a combination of anisotropic interaction potentials and Zeeman coupling under an external magnetic field. This scattering is studied in a collaborative experimental and theoretical effort for both dysprosium and erbium. We present extensive atom-loss measurements of their dense magnetic Feshbach-resonance spectra, analyze their statistical properties, and compare to predictions from a random-matrix-theory-inspired model. Furthermore, theoretical coupled-channels simulations of the anisotropic molecular Hamiltonian at zero magnetic field show that weakly bound, near threshold diatomic levels form overlapping, uncoupled chaotic series that when combined are randomly distributed. The Zeeman interaction shifts and couples these levels, leading to a Feshbach spectrum of zero-energy bound states with nearest-neighbor spacings that changes from randomly to chaotically distributed for increasing magnetic field. Finally, we show that the extreme temperature sensitivity of a small, but sizable fraction of the resonances in the Dy and Er atom-loss spectra is due to resonant nonzero partial-wave collisions. Our threshold analysis for these resonances indicates a large collision-energy dependence of the three-body recombination rate.