Induced-charge electrophoresis of metallodielectric particles

The application of ac electric fields in aqueous suspensions of anisotropic particles leads to unbalanced liquid flows and nonlinear, induced-charge electrophoretic motion. We report experimental observations of the motion of Janus microparticles with one dielectric and one metal-coated hemisphere induced by uniform fields of frequency 100 Hz-10 kHz in NaCl solutions. The motion is perpendicular to the field axis and persists after particles are attracted to a glass wall. This phenomenon may find applications in microactuators, microsensors, and microfluidic devices.     

Crossover from normal to anomalous diffusion in systems of field-aligned dipolar particles

Using molecular dynamics simulations we investigate the translational dynamics of particles with dipolar interactions in homogenous external fields. For a broad range of concentrations, we find that the anisotropic, yet normal diffusive behavior characterizing weakly coupled systems becomes anomalous both parallel and perpendicular to the field at sufficiently high dipolar coupling and field strength. After the ballistic regime, chain formation first yields cagelike motion in all directions, followed by transient, mixed diffusive-superdiffusive behavior resulting from cooperative motion of the chains. The enhanced dynamics disappears only at higher densities close to crystallization.     

Gravitational Field of Spherical Domain Walls

In this paper we have considered a spherically symmetric domain wall with non vanishing stress component in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the wall. The exact solutions are obtained using functional separability of metric coefficients. Also we have studied the motion of the test particles in different situations.     

Manipulating small particles in mixtures far from equilibrium

The motion of two interacting species of small particles, coupled differently to their environment, is studied both analytically and via numerical simulations. We find three ways of controlling the particle motion of one (passive) B species by means of another (active) A species: (i) dragging the target particles B by driving the auxiliary particles A, (ii) rectifying the motion of the B species on the asymmetric potential created by the A-B interactions, and (iii) dynamically modifying (pulsating) this potential by controlling the motion of the A particles. This allows easy control of the magnitude and direction of the velocity of the target particles by changing the ac drive(s).     

Domain wall creep in epitaxial ferroelectric Pb(Zr(0.2)Ti(0.08)O(3) thin films

Ferroelectric switching and nanoscale domain dynamics were investigated using atomic force microscopy on monocrystalline Pb(Zr(0.2)Ti(0.8))O(3) thin films. Measurements of domain size versus writing time reveal a two-step domain growth mechanism, in which initial nucleation is followed by radial domain wall motion perpendicular to the polarization direction. The electric field dependence of the domain wall velocity demonstrates that domain wall motion in ferroelectric thin films is a creep process, with the critical exponent mu close to 1. The dimensionality of the films suggests that disorder is at the origin of the observed creep behavior.     

Controlling the motion of interacting particles: homogeneous systems and binary mixtures

We elaborate on recent results on the transport of interacting particles for both single-species and binary mixtures subject to an external driving on a ratchetlike asymmetric substrate. Moreover, we also briefly review motion control without any spatial asymmetric potential (i.e., no ratchet). Our results are obtained using an analytical approach based on a nonlinear Fokker-Planck equation as well as via numerical simulations. By increasing the particle density, the net dc ratchet current in our alternating (ac)-driven systems can either increase or decrease depending on the temperature, the drive amplitude, and the nature of the inter-particle interactions. This provides an effective control of particle motion by just changing the particle density. At low temperatures, attracting particles can condense at some potential minima, thus breaking the discrete translational symmetry of the substrate. Depending on the drive amplitude, an agglomeration or condensation results either in a drop to zero or in a saturation of the net particle velocity at densities above the condensation density-the latter case producing a very efficient rectification mechanism. For binary mixtures we find three ways of controlling the particle motion of one (passive) B species by means of another (active) A species: (i) Dragging the target particles B by driving the auxiliary particles A, (ii) rectifying the motion of the B particles on the asymmetric potential created by the A-B interactions, and (iii) dynamically modifying (pulsating) this potential by controlling the motion of the A particles. This allows to easily control the magnitude and direction of the velocity of the target particles by changing either the frequency, phase and/or amplitude of the applied ac drive(s).     

Anisotropic memory effects in confined colloidal diffusion

The motion of an optically trapped sphere constrained by the vicinity of a wall is investigated at times where hydrodynamic memory is significant. First, we quantify, in bulk, the influence of confinement arising from the trapping potential on the sphere's velocity autocorrelation function C(t). Next, we study the splitting of C(t) into C_{parallel}(t) and C_{perpendicular}(t), when the sphere is approached towards a surface. Thereby, we monitor the crossover from a slow t{-3/2} long-time tail, away from the wall, to a faster t{-5/2} decay, due to the subtle interplay between hydrodynamic backflow and wall effects. Finally, we discuss the resulting asymmetric time-dependent diffusion coefficients.     

Current induced domain wall motion in GaMnAs close to the Curie temperature

Domain wall dynamics produced by spin transfer torques is investigated in (Ga, Mn)As ferromagnetic semiconducting tracks with perpendicular anisotropy, close to the Curie temperature. The domain wall velocities are found to follow a linear flow regime which only slightly varies with temperature. Using the D?ring inequality, boundaries of the spin polarization of the current are deduced. A comparison with the predictions of the mean field k·p theory leads to an estimation of the carrier density whose value is compatible with results published in the literature. The spin polarization of the current and the magnetization of the magnetic atoms present similar temperature variations. This leads to a weak temperature dependence of the spin drift velocity and thus of the domain wall velocity. A combined study of field- and current-driven motion and deformation of magnetic domains reveals a motion of domain walls in the steady state regime without transition to the precessional regime. The ratio between the non-adiabatic torque β and the Gilbert damping factor α is shown to remain close to unity.     

消磁场对纳米铁磁线磁畴壁动力学行为的影响

为了实现基于磁畴壁运动的自旋电子学装置, 掌握磁畴壁动力学行为是重要争论之一.研究了在外磁场驱动下L-型纳米铁磁线磁畴壁的动力学行为. 通过微磁学模拟,在各种外磁场的驱动下考察了纳米铁磁线磁畴壁的动力学特性; 在较强外磁场的驱动下, 在不同厚度纳米线上考察了纳米线表面消磁场对磁畴壁动力学行为的影响. 为了进一步证实消磁场对磁畴壁动力学的影响, 在垂直于纳米线表面的外磁场辅助下分析了磁畴壁的动力学行为变化. 结果表明, 随着纳米线厚度和外驱动磁场强度的增加, 增强了纳米线表面的消磁场的形成, 使得磁畴壁内部自旋结构发生周期性变化, 导致磁畴壁在纳米线上传播时出现Walker崩溃现象. 在垂直于纳米线表面的外磁场辅助下, 发现辅助磁场可以调节消磁场的强度和方向. 这意味着利用辅助磁场可以有效地控制纳米铁磁线磁畴壁的动力学行为.     

Nonmonotonic effects of perpendicular magnetic anisotropy on current-driven vortex wall motions in magnetic nanostripes

In a magnetic nanostripe, the effects of perpendicular magnetic anisotropy(PMA) on the current-driven horizontal motion of vortex wall along the stripe and the vertical motion of the vortex core are studied by micromagnetic simulations.The results show that the horizontal and vertical motion can generally be monotonously enhanced by PMA. However, when the current is small, a nonmonotonic phenomenon for the horizontal motion is found. Namely, the velocity of the horizontal motion firstly decreases and then increases with the increase of the PMA. We find that the reason for this is that the PMA can firstly increase and then decrease the confining force induced by the confining potential energy. In addition, the PMA always enhances the driving force induced by the current.     

Relic Density of Asymmetric Dark Matter in Modified Cosmological Scenarios

We discuss the relic abundance of asymmetric Dark Matter particles in modified cosmological scenarios where the Hubble rate is changed with respect to the standard cosmological scenario. The modified Hubble rate leaves its imprint on the relic abundance of asymmetric Dark Matter particles if the asymmetric Dark Matter particles freeze-out in this era. For generality we parameterize the modification of the Hubble rate and then calculate the relic abundance of asymmetric Dark Matter particles and anti-particles. We find the abundances for the Dark Matter particles and anti-particles are enhanced in the modified cosmological models. The indirect detection signal is possible for the asymmetric Dark Matter particles due to the increased annihilation rate in the modified cosmological models. Applying Planck data, we find the constraints on the parameters of the modified cosmological models.     

Crossed-ratchet effects for magnetic domain wall motion

We study both experimentally and theoretically the driven motion of domain walls in extended amorphous magnetic films patterned with a periodic array of asymmetric holes. We find two crossed-ratchet effects of opposite sign that change the preferred sense for domain wall propagation, depending on whether a flat or a kinked wall is moving. By solving numerically a simple phi(4) model we show that the essential physical ingredients for this effect are quite generic and could be realized in other experimental systems involving elastic interfaces moving in multidimensional ratchet potentials.     

Ratchet and switching effects in stochastic kink dynamics

We study collective dynamics in a chain of harmonically coupled particles subjected to degenerate but asymmetric on-site double-well potentials and driven by white and exponentially correlated noise. The difference of frequencies of small-amplitude oscillations in the vicinity of the wells appears to be a sufficient condition for the existence of the soliton ratchet effect. We find directed thermally activated soliton motion while at certain critical values of either the correlation time or noise strength, a reversal (switching) of the direction of motion takes place. Furthermore, we observe stochastic soliton transport directed against an applied d.c. field.     

Speedup of the Chaplygin Top by Means of Rotors

Doklady Physics - In this paper we consider the control of the motion of a dynamically asymmetric unbalanced ball (Chaplygin top) by means of two perpendicular rotors. We propose a mechanism for...     

Gravitational field of spherical domain wall in higher dimension

An exact solution of Einstein’s equations is found describing the gravitational field of a spherical domain wall with nonvanishing stress component in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the wall. Also we have studied the motion of test particle around the domain wall.     

Polarization direction characters of local electric field around dielectric coated gold nanowire

The local electric field components in the dielectric wall with a long gold nanowire in its core are calculated based on quasi-static theory. The calculated results show that the complete polarized incident light does not only stimulate same directional complete polarized local electric field. The same directional polarized electric field only locates close to the poles of the core wire and is parallel or perpendicular to the polarized direction of the incident radiation. On the other hand, incident light also stimulates perpendicular directional polarization, which densely locates close to the poles of the core wire in the direction with an included angle π/4 or 3π/4 makes with polarization direction of incident light. Furthermore, local electric field components in the wall also depend on the dielectric constant of dielectric wall and surrounding medium. When dielectric constant of the wall is less than that of surrounding, the areas of perpendicular directional polarized local field in the wall reduce and shift greatly. At the same time, more parallel directional polarized local field focus in the poles of the wall along the incident polarization. PACS 78.67.Bf; 73.20.Mf; 36.40.Gk; 78.66.Bz; 73.20.Mf     

Remanence due to wall magnetization and counterintuitive magnetometry data in 200-nm films of Ni

200-nm-thick Ni films in an epitaxial Cu/Ni/Cu/Si(001) structure are expected to have an in-plane effective magnetic anisotropy. However, the in-plane remanence is only 42%, and magnetic force microscopy domain images suggest perpendicular magnetization. Quantitative magnetic force microscopy analysis can resolve the inconsistencies and show that (i) the films have perpendicular domains capped by closure domains with magnetization canted at 51 degrees from the film normal, (ii) the magnetization in the Bloch domain walls between the perpendicular domains accounts for the low in-plane remanence, and (iii) the perpendicular magnetization process requires a short-range domain wall motion prior to wall-magnetization rotation and is nonhysteretic, whereas the in-plane magnetization requires long-range motion before domain-magnetization rotation and is hysteretic.     

Dielectrophoretic motions of a pair of particles in the vicinity of a planar wall under a direct-current electric field

This paper presents direct simulations on the two-dimensional dielectrophoretic (DEP) motion of a pair of particles in a viscous fluid, interacting with a nearby planar wall, to further understand the DEP interaction among multiple particles and a wall. Results show that, under an external direct-current electric field parallel to the wall-fluid interface, the nearby wall has significant effects on the DEP motion of both particles including their revolution, alignment and aligned movement. Regardless of their particle conductivity, the wall being less (more) conductive than the fluid pushes (draws) both particles to move away from (toward) it.     

Behaviour of two‐dimensional liquid dusty plasmas under perpendicular magnetic fields

The collective behaviour of two‐dimensional (2D) liquid dusty plasmas under perpendicular magnetic fields is studied using Langevin dynamic simulations. Based on the positions and velocities of the simulated dust particles, the dynamic parameters of intermediate scattering functions and probability distribution functions are calculated. It is found that, under different 2D liquid dusty plasma conditions, the motion of individual dust particles tends to be more super‐diffusive under stronger perpendicular magnetic fields, well consistent with the previous finding using a different diagnostic technique.