Search results for "Capillary wave"

Fluctuating Interfaces in Liquid Crystals

2008

We review and compare recent work on the properties of fluctuating interfaces between nematic and isotropic liquid-crystalline phases. Molecular dynamics and Monte Carlo simulations have been carried out for systems of ellipsoids and hard rods with aspect ratio 15:1, and the fluctuation spectrum of interface positions (the capillary wave spectrum) has been analyzed. In addition, the capillary wave spectrum has been calculated analytically within the Landau-de Gennes theory. The theory predicts that the interfacial fluctuations can be described in terms of a wave vector dependent interfacial tension, which is anisotropic at small wavelengths (stiff director regime) and becomes isotropic at l…

Symmetric diblock copolymers confined into thin films: A Monte Carlo investigation on the CRAY T3E

2000

We present the results of large scale computer simulations targeted at investigating the phase stability and the structure of symmetric AB diblock copolymers in thin films. The connectivity of the two different monomer species A and B in the diblock copolymer prevents macrophage separation and the molecules assemble into A-rich and B-rich domains on the scale of the molecule’s extension. This large length scale of the ordering phenomena makes these polymeric systems a promising candidate for revealing the universal features of self-assembling in amphiphilic molecules. However, the widely spread length and time scales impart protracted long relaxation times to the systems and pose a challeng…

The capillary waves' contribution to wind-wave generation

2022

Published theories and observations have shown that dissipation of gravity waves implies frequency downshifting of wave energy. Hence, for wind-waves, the wind energy input to the highest frequencies is of special interest. Here it is shown that this input is vital, because the direct wind energy input obtained by the air-pressure’s work on most gravity waves is slightly less than what the waves need to grow. Further, the wind’s input of the angular momentum that waves need to grow is found to be absent at most gravity wave frequencies. The capillary waves that appear at the surface of the sea when the wind is blowing solve these problems. To demonstrate this, an extension of linear wave th…

Suppression of capillary wave broadening of interfaces in binary alloys due to elastic interactions.

2005

By Monte Carlo simulations in the constant-temperature--constant-pressure ensemble a planar interface between unmixed A-rich and B-rich phases of a binary (A, B) alloy on a compressible diamond lattice is studied. No significant capillary wave broadening of the concentration profile across the interface is observed, unlike lattice models of incompressible mixtures and fluids. The distortion of the lattice structure across the interface is studied.

Free surfaces: shape sensitivity analysis and numerical methods

1999

Interfaces in polymer blends

2000

We investigate the structure and thermodynamics of interfaces in dense polymer blends using Monte Carlo (MC) simulations and self-consistent field (SCF) calculations. For structurally symmetric blends we find quantitative agreement between the MC simulations and the SCF calculations for excess quantities of the interface (e.g., interfacial tension or enrichment of copolymers at the interface). However, a quantitative comparison between profiles across the interface in the MC simulations and the SCF calculations has to take due account of capillary waves. While the profiles in the SCF calculations correspond to intrinsic profiles of a perfectly flat interface the local interfacial position f…

From capillary condensation to interface localization transitions in colloid-polymer mixtures confined in thin-film geometry.

2008

Monte Carlo simulations of the Asakura-Oosawa (AO) model for colloid-polymer mixtures confined between two parallel repulsive structureless walls are presented and analyzed in the light of current theories on capillary condensation and interface localization transitions. Choosing a polymer to colloid size ratio of q=0.8 and studying ultrathin films in the range of D=3 to D=10 colloid diameters thickness, grand canonical Monte Carlo methods are used; phase transitions are analyzed via finite size scaling, as in previous work on bulk systems and under confinement between identical types of walls. Unlike the latter work, inequivalent walls are used here: while the left wall has a hard-core rep…

COMPUTER SIMULATION OF PROFILES OF INTERFACES BETWEEN COEXISTING PHASES: DO WE UNDERSTAND THEIR FINITE SIZE EFFECTS?

2000

Interfaces between coexisting phases are very common in condensed matter physics, and thus many simulations attempt to characterize their properties, in particular, the interfacial tension and the interfacial profile. However, while theory usually deals with the "intrinsic profile", the latter is not a straightforward output of a simulation: The actual profile (observed in simulations and/or experiments!) is broadened by lateral fluctuations. Therefore, in the usual simulation geometry of L × L × L (in three dimensions), where one chooses suitable boundary conditions to stabilize one or two interfaces of (minimal) area L × L, the profile (and in particular the interfacial width) depends on…

Second inflection point of water surface tension in the deeply supercooled regime revealed by entropy anomaly and surface structure using molecular d…

2019

The surface tension of supercooled water is of fundamental importance in physical chemistry and materials and atmospheric sciences. Controversy, however, exists over its temperature dependence in the supercooled regime, especially on the existence of the second inflection point (SIP). Here, we use molecular dynamics simulations of the SPC/E water model to study the surface tension of water (sigma(w)) as a function of temperature down to 198.15 K, and find a minimum point of surface excess entropy per unit area around approximate to 240-250 K. Additional simulations with the TIP4P/2005 water model also show consistent results. Hence, we predict an SIP of sigma(w) roughly in this region, at t…

Study of the confined Ising magnet with long-range competing boundary fields

2005

We present extensive Monte Carlo simulations of the Ising film confined in an L × M geometry () in the presence of long-range competing magnetic fields h(n) = h1/n3(n = 1,2,...,L) which are applied at opposite walls along the M-direction. Due to the fields, an interface between domains of different orientations that runs parallel to the walls forms and can be located close to one of the two surfaces or fluctuate in the centre of the film (localization–delocalization transition). This transition is the precursor of the wetting phase transition that occurs in the limit of infinite film thickness () at the critical curve Tw(h1). For T<Tw(h1) (T≥Tw(h1)) such an interface is bound to (unbound fr…