Nonthermal solid-to-solid phase transitions in tungsten

Solid-state dimer method for calculating solid-solid phase transitions.

The dimer method is a minimum mode following algorithm for finding saddle points on a potential energy surface of atomic systems. Here, the dimer method is extended to include the cell degrees of freedom for periodic solid-state systems. Using this method, reaction pathways of solid-solid phase transitions can be determined without having to specify the final state structure or reaction mechani...

Two-step nucleation mechanism in solid-solid phase transitions.

The microscopic kinetics of ubiquitous solid-solid phase transitions remain poorly understood. Here, by using single-particle-resolution video microscopy of colloidal films of diameter-tunable microspheres, we show that transitions between square and triangular lattices occur via a two-step diffusive nucleation pathway involving liquid nuclei. The nucleation pathway is favoured over the direct ...

Solid-solid phase transitions via melting in metals.

Observing solid-solid phase transitions in-situ with sufficient temporal and spatial resolution is a great challenge, and is often only possible via computer simulations or in model systems. Recently, a study of polymeric colloidal particles, where the particles mimic atoms, revealed an intermediate liquid state in the transition from one solid to another. While not yet observed there, this fin...

Phase transitions of elastic solid materials

Nonthermal phase transitions after inflation.

At the rst stage of reheating after in ation, parametric resonance may rapidly transfer most of the energy of an in aton eld to the energy of other bosons. We show that quantum uctuations of scalar and vector elds produced at this stage are much greater than they would be in a state of thermal equilibrium. This leads to cosmological phase transitions of a new type, which may result in a copious...