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2002

Materials Science and Engineering

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications

Articles 1 - 5 of 5

Full-Text Articles in Mechanical Engineering

Coarsening Dynamics Of Biaxial Nematic Liquid Crystals, Nikolai V. Priezjev, Robert A. Pelcovits Nov 2002

Coarsening Dynamics Of Biaxial Nematic Liquid Crystals, Nikolai V. Priezjev, Robert A. Pelcovits

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications

We study the coarsening dynamics of two- and three-dimensional biaxial nematic liquid crystals, using Langevin dynamics. Unlike previous work, we use a model with no a priori relationship among the three elastic constants associated with director deformations. Biaxial nematics possess four topologically distinct classes of defects, three of which have half-integer charge, while the fourth, which plays a minor role in coarsening, is of integer charge. We find a rich variety of coarsening behavior, including the presence of one, two, or three of the half-integer classes at late times, depending on the relative values of the elastic constants and the …


Virtual Surfaces, Director Domains And The Freedericksz Transition In Polymer Stabilized Nematic Liquid Crystals, Pavel A. Kossyrev, Jun Qi, Nikolai V. Priezjev, Robert A. Pelcovits, Gregory P. Crawford Oct 2002

Virtual Surfaces, Director Domains And The Freedericksz Transition In Polymer Stabilized Nematic Liquid Crystals, Pavel A. Kossyrev, Jun Qi, Nikolai V. Priezjev, Robert A. Pelcovits, Gregory P. Crawford

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications

The critical field of the Freedericksz transition and switching dynamics are investigated for polymer stabilized nematic liquid crystals as a function of polymer concentration. A simple phenomenological model is proposed to describe the observed critical field and dynamic response time behaviors as a function of concentration. In this model the polymer fibrils form director domains, which are bounded by virtual surfaces with a finite anchoring energy. The Freedericksz transition occurs independently within each of these domains.


Correlation Between The Xps Peak Shapes Of Y1bu2cu3o7-X And Film Quality, Paul N. Barnes, Sharmila M. Mukhopadhyay, Timothy J. Haugan, Swaminathan Krishnaswami, Justin C. Tolliver, Iman Maartense Aug 2002

Correlation Between The Xps Peak Shapes Of Y1bu2cu3o7-X And Film Quality, Paul N. Barnes, Sharmila M. Mukhopadhyay, Timothy J. Haugan, Swaminathan Krishnaswami, Justin C. Tolliver, Iman Maartense

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications

X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) depth profiling was used to investigate the compositional and chemical profile of a typical YBCO coated conductor architecture. Results of the process revealed that the Y(3d) photoelectronic peak shape in these films is very different from bulk YBCO. To investigate this, several samples of Y i Ba2Cu307_„ thin films were intentionally created of varying quality. The films were deposited on LaA10 3 by pulsed laser deposition with ./c. values ranging from poorly conducting up to several MA/cm2. Initial results indicated a potential correlation between the Y(3d) XPS peak shape (full-width-half-maximum) of the YBCO and the film …


Simulations Of Nematic Liquid Crystals: Confined Geometries, Phase Transitions And Topological Defects, Nikolai V. Priezjev May 2002

Simulations Of Nematic Liquid Crystals: Confined Geometries, Phase Transitions And Topological Defects, Nikolai V. Priezjev

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications

The physics of liquid crystals is an exciting field of research with important practical applications. In this dissertation we present the results of simulation studies of nematic liquid crystals using Monte Carlo and molecular dynamic techniques. In our first project we performed Monte Carlo Simulations of the Lebwohl-Lasher (LL) model of nematic liquid crystals confined to cylindrical cavities with perpendicular anchoring. In this particular geometry one has an interesting interplay between bulk and surface energies, which results in different director configurations inside the cylinder. Our work reconciled the apparent contradictions between the results of earlier simulations and approximate analytics theories. …


Strongly Screened Vortex Lattice Model With Disorder, C. Giardina', Nikolai V. Priezjev, J. M. Kosterlitz Jan 2002

Strongly Screened Vortex Lattice Model With Disorder, C. Giardina', Nikolai V. Priezjev, J. M. Kosterlitz

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications

The three dimensional XY model with quenched random disorder and finite screening is studied. We argue that the system scales to model with λ≃0≃T and the resulting effective model is studied numerically by defect energy scaling. In zero external field we find that there exists a true superconducting phase with a stiffness exponent θ≃+1.0 for weak disorder. For low magnetic field and weak disorder, there is also a superconducting phase with θ≃+1.0 which we conjecture is a Bragg glass. For larger disorder or applied field, there is a non superconducting phase with θ≃−1.0. We estimate the critical external field whose …