Liquid to solid nucleation via onion structure droplets

TL;DR

This paper investigates the process of homogeneous nucleation in deeply quenched liquids, revealing that the most favored nucleating droplets are onion-like, spherically symmetric structures with layered modulations, across various systems.

Contribution

It demonstrates that the universally favored nucleating droplet in dimensions $d \, \geq\, 3$ has an onion structure, extending understanding of nucleation in systems with long-range interactions.

Findings

Favored nucleating droplets are onion-structured in dimensions $d \geq 3$.

Onion structure droplets are relevant for systems like polymers, plasmas, and metals.

The study applies to a broad class of density functional theories.

Abstract

We study homogeneous nucleation from a deeply quenched metastable liquid to a spatially modulated phase. We find, for a general class of density functional theories, that the universally favored nucleating droplet in dimensions $d \geq 3$ is spherically symmetric with radial modulations resembling the layers of an onion. The existence of this droplet has important implications for systems with effective long-range interactions, and potentially applies to polymers, plasmas, and metals.