Minority game with SK interactions
Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical IOP Publishing 46:50 (2013) 505004
BZT: A Soft Pseudospin Glass.
Physical review letters 111:22 (2013) 227601
Abstract:
In an attempt to understand the origin of relaxor ferroelectricity, it is shown that interesting behavior of the onset of nonergodicity and of precursor nanodomains, found in first-principles simulations of the relaxor alloy Ba(Zr(1-x)Ti(x))O(3), can easily be understood within a simple mapping to a soft pseudospin glass.Modeling vitreous silica bilayers
PHYSICAL REVIEW B 87:21 (2013) ARTN 214108
Abstract:
Theoretical modeling is presented for a freestanding vitreous silica bilayer which has recently been synthesized and characterized experimentally in landmark work. While such two-dimensional continuous random covalent networks should likely occur on energetic grounds, no synthetic pathway had been discovered previously. Here the bilayer is modeled using a computer assembly procedure initiated from a single layer of a model of amorphous graphene, generated using a bond-switching algorithm from an initially crystalline graphene structure. Each bond is decorated with an oxygen atom and the carbon atoms are relabeled as silicon, generating a two-dimensional network of corner-sharing triangles. Each triangle is transformed into a tetrahedron, by raising the silicon atom above each triangular base and adding an additional singly coordinated oxygen atom at the apex. The final step in this construction is to mirror-reflect this layer to form a second layer and attach the two layers to form the bilayer. We show that this vitreous silica bilayer has the additional macroscopic degrees of freedom to form easily a network of identical corner-sharing tetrahedra if there is a symmetry plane through the center of the bilayer going through the layer of oxygen ions that join the upper and lower monolayers. This has the consequence that the upper rings lie exactly above the lower rings, which are tilted in general. The assumption of a network of perfect corner- sharing tetrahedra leads to a range of possible densities that we characterize as a flexibility window, with some similarity to flexibility windows in three dimensional zeolites. Finally, using a realistic potential, we have relaxed the bilayer to determine the density and other structural characteristics such as the Si-Si pair distribution functions and the Si-O-Si bond angle distribution, which are compared with experimental results obtained by direct imaging.Onward and upwards: the Advance accelerates
Advances In Physics Taylor & Francis 61:3 (2012) 153-153
Understanding Glassy Phenomena in Materials
Chapter in Disorder and Strain-Induced Complexity in Functional Materials, Springer-Verlag 148 (2012) 10