Elastic properties of mono- and polydisperse two-dimensional crystals of hard--core repulsive Yukawa particles

TL;DR

This study uses Monte Carlo simulations to analyze how particle size distribution, screening length, and density affect the elastic properties of two-dimensional Yukawa particle crystals, revealing polydispersity's significant impact on shear modulus.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed analysis of elastic properties of 2D Yukawa crystals considering polydispersity, screening effects, and density variations.

Findings

Polydispersity strongly influences shear modulus.

Elastic moduli increase with density, faster with shorter screening length.

The system exhibits positive Poisson's ratio, unlike 3D counterparts.

Abstract

Monte Carlo simulations of mono-- and polydisperse two--dimensional crystals are reported. The particles in the studied system, interacting through hard--core repulsive Yukawa potential, form a solid phase of hexagonal lattice. The elastic properties of crystalline Yukawa systems are determined in the $NpT$ ensemble with variable shape of the periodic box. Effects of the Debye screening length ($\kappa^{-1}$), contact value of the potential ($\epsilon$), and the size polydispersity of particles on elastic properties of the system are studied. The simulations show that the polydispersity of particles strongly influences the elastic properties of the studied system, especially on the shear modulus. It is also found that the elastic moduli increase with density and their growth rate depends on the screening length. Shorter screening length leads to faster increase of elastic moduli with density and decrease of the Poisson's ratio. In contrast to its three-dimensional version, the studied system is non-auxetic, i.e. shows positive Poisson's ratio.