Devil's staircase and order without periodicity in classical condensed matter

Conference · Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1982

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1051/jphys:01983004402014700· OSTI ID:5185534

Aubry, S

The existence of incommensurate structures proves that crystal ordering is not always the most stable one for nonquantum matter. Some properties of structures which are obtained by minimizing a free energy are investigated in the Frenkel Kontorova and related models. It is shown that an incommensurate structure can be either quasi-sinusoidal with a phason mode or built out of a sequence of equidistant defects (discommensurations) which are locked to the lattice by the Peierls force. In that situation the variation of the commensurability ratio with physical parameters forms a complete devil's staircase with interesting physical consequences. Some general results for all structures which minimize a free energy are given. In addition to the known crystal and incommensurate structures, the existence of a new class of structures which have local order at all scale is predicted. Properties of the new class are described in physical terms and possible applications to certain amorphous or nonstoichiometric compounds are discussed.

• Research Organization: Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-36
• OSTI ID: 5185534
• Report Number(s): LA-UR-82-1266; CONF-820150-1; ON: DE82015744
• Resource Relation: Journal Volume: 44; Journal Issue: 2; Conference: Devel's staircase and order without periodicity in classical condensed matter, Aussois, France, 26 Jan 1982
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
CRYSTAL STRUCTURE
ORDER-DISORDER TRANSFORMATIONS
AMORPHOUS STATE
CRYSTAL DEFECTS
CRYSTAL LATTICES
FREE ENERGY
PEIERLS-NABARRO FORCE
SYMMETRY BREAKING
ENERGY
PHASE TRANSFORMATIONS
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
THERMODYNAMIC PROPERTIES
656000* - Condensed Matter Physics