Novel fluctuations at constrained interfaces

TL;DR

This paper investigates the effects of explicit constraints on interfacial fluctuations in two-dimensional systems, revealing unexpected static and dynamic phenomena relevant to nanotechnology and nanoscale device behavior.

Contribution

It demonstrates novel fluctuation behaviors and structural transitions of constrained interfaces, including the impact of symmetry-breaking and layering transitions in nanoscale systems.

Findings

Ising interface exhibits structural transitions with velocity and orientation.

Liquid-solid interfaces show atomic layering during stress relaxation.

Constrained interfaces display unique static and dynamic fluctuation phenomena.

Abstract

In this study we try to answer the qustion : What happens when explicit constraints are introduced such that the low energy, long wavelength modes of a system are unavailable ? This question has assumed some importance in recent years due to the advent of nano technology and the growing use of nanometer scale devices and structures. In a small system, the size limits the scale of the fluctuations and makes it imperative for us to understand how the response of the system is altered in such a situation. In this thesis, this question is answered for the special case of interfacial fluctuations in two dimensions (2d). The energy of an interface between two phases in equilibrium is invariant with respect to translations perpendicular to the plane (or line in 2d) of the interface. We study the consequence of breaking this symmetry explicity using an external field gradient. One expects that since low energy excitations are suppressed, the interface would be flat and inert at all times. We show that surprisingly there are novel fluctuations and phenomena associated with such constrained interfaces which have static as well as dynamic consequences. The Ising interface on a square lattice is shown to undergo a multitude of structural transitions as a function of velocity and the orientation. Liquid solid interfaces show coherent addition and removal of atomic layers providing novel mechanisms of stress relaxation in a nanosized single crystal without defects. We study momentum and energy transfer across the liquid solid interface in the presence of this ``layering'' transition.