ABSTRACT
We present a combined experimental and theoretical study of memory effects in vibration-induced compaction of granular materials. In particular, the response of the system to an abrupt change in shaking intensity is measured. At short times after the perturbation a granular analog of aging in glasses is observed. Using a simple two-state model, we are able to explain this short-time response. We also discuss the possibility for the system to obey an approximate pseudo-fluctuation-dissipation theorem relationship and relate our work to earlier experimental and theoretical studies of the problem.
ABSTRACT
We study the vortex phase diagram in untwinned YBCO crystals with columnar defects. These randomly distributed defects are expected to induce a "Bose glass" phase of localized vortices exhibiting a vanishing resistance and Meissner effect for magnetic fields H( perpendicular) transverse to the columns. We directly observe the transverse Meissner effect using a Hall probe array. As predicted, the Meissner state breaks down at temperatures T(s) that decrease linearly as H( perpendicular) increases. However, T(s) lies far below the conventional melting temperature T(m) determined by a vanishing resistivity, suggesting a regime where vortices are effectively localized even when rotated off the columnar defects.
ABSTRACT
Granular materials and ordinary fluids react differently to shear stresses. Rather than deforming uniformly, materials such as dry sand or cohesionless powders develop shear bands--narrow zones of large relative particle motion, with essentially rigid adjacent regions. Because shear bands mark areas of flow, material failure and energy dissipation, they are important in many industrial, civil engineering and geophysical processes. They are also relevant to lubricating fluids confined to ultrathin molecular layers. However, detailed three-dimensional information on motion within a shear band, including the degree of particle rotation and interparticle slip, is lacking. Similarly, very little is known about how the microstructure of individual grains affects movement in densely packed material. Here we combine magnetic resonance imaging, X-ray tomography and high-speed-video particle tracking to obtain the local steady-state particle velocity, rotation and packing density for shear flow in a three-dimensional Couette geometry. We find that key characteristics of the granular microstructure determine the shape of the velocity profile.
ABSTRACT
Local control of the domain orientation in diblock copolymer thin films can be obtained by the application of electric fields on micrometer-length scales. Thin films of an asymmetric polystyrene-polymethylmethacrylate diblock copolymer, with cylindrical polymethylmethacrylate microdomains, were spin-coated onto substrates previously patterned with planar electrodes. The substrates, 100-nanometer-thick silicon nitride membranes, allow direct observation of the electrodes and the copolymer domain structure by transmission electron microscopy. The cylinders aligned parallel to the electric field lines for fields exceeding 30 kilovolts per centimeter, after annealing at 250°C in an inert atmosphere for 24 hours. This technique could find application in nanostructure fabrication.