Awaneesh Singh

Field-dependent competing magnetic ordering in multiferroic Ni3V2O8

The geometrically frustrated magnet Ni3V2O8 undergoes a series of competing magnetic ordering at low temperatures. Most importantly, one of the incommensurate phases has been reported to develop a ferroelectric correlation caused by spin frustration. Here we report an extensive thermodynamic, dielectric and magnetic study on clean polycrystalline samples of this novel multiferroic compound. Our low-temperature specific heat data at high fields up to 14 Tesla clearly identify the development of a new magnetic-field–induced phase transition below 2 K that shows signatures of simultaneous electric ordering. We also report temperature- and field-dependent dielectric constant that enables us to quantitatively estimate the strength of magneto-electric coupling in this improper ferroelectric material.

Kinetics of phase separation in polymer mixtures: A molecular dynamics study

We present detailed results from a molecular dynamics (MD) simulation of phase-separation kinetics in polymer mixtures. Our MD simulations naturally incorporate hydrodynamic effects. We find that polymeric phase separation (with dynamically symmetric components) is in the same universality class as segregation of simple fluids: the degree of polymerization only slows down the segregation kinetics. For d = 2 polymeric fluids, the domain growth law is L(t) ∼ t(ϕ) with ϕ showing a crossover from 1/3 → 1/2 → 2/3. For d = 3 polymeric fluids, we see the crossover ϕ = 1/3 → 1. Our MD simulations do not yet access the inertial hydrodynamic regime (with L ∼ t(2/3)) of phase separation in 3-d fluids.

Control of structure formation in phase-separating systems

In this paper, we study the evolution of phase-separating binary mixtures which are subjected to alternate cooling and heating cycles. An initially homogeneous mixture is rapidly quenched to a temperature T(1)<T(c), where T(c) is the critical temperature. The mixture undergoes phase separation for a while and is then suddenly heated to a temperature T(2)>T(c). These cycles are repeated to create a domain morphology with multiple length scales, i.e., the structure factor is characterized by multiple peaks. For phase separation in d = 2 systems, we present numerical and analytical results for the emergence and growth of this multiple-scale morphology.

Growth Kinetics of Nanoclusters in Solution

We study the growth kinetics of nanoclusters in solution. There are two generic factors that drive growth: (a) reactions that produce the nanomaterial; and (b) diffusion of the nanomaterial due to chemical-potential gradients. We model the growth kinetics of ZnO nanoparticles via coupled dynamical equations for the relevant order parameters. We study this model both analytically and numerically. We find that there is a crossover in the nanocluster growth law: from L(t) ∼ t(1/2) in the reaction-controlled regime to L(t) ∼ t(1/3) in the diffusion-controlled regime.

Domain growth in chiral phase transitions

Abstract We study the kinetics of chiral phase transitions in quark matter. We discuss the phase diagram of this system in both a microscopic framework (using the Nambu–Jona-Lasinio model) and a phenomenological framework (using the Landau free energy). Then, we study the far-from-equilibrium coarsening dynamics subsequent to a quench from the chirally-symmetric phase to the massive quark phase. Depending on the nature of the quench, the system evolves via either spinodal decomposition or nucleation and growth . The morphology of the ordering system is characterized using the order-parameter correlation function, structure factor, domain growth laws, etc.

Combining ATRP and FRP Gels: Soft Gluing of Polymeric Materials for the Fabrication of Stackable Gels

Stackable gels comprised of layers of dissimilar polymers were synthesized by combining conventional free radical polymerization (FRP) and atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) using two approaches: (i) polymerization of a pre-gel solution containing a monomer and cross-linker introduced on top of a previously prepared gel, and (ii) simultaneous polymerization of two immiscible pre-gel solutions remaining in contact. All permutations of FRP and ATRP yielded single-piece, connected, amphiphilic gels regardless of the order of polymerization. Furthermore, multi-layer ATRP gels combining different polymers were synthesized with the FRP layer as a gluing agent. A 10-layer amphiphilic stackable gel combining n-butyl methacrylate (BMA) and 2-(dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate (DMAEMA), and a 10-layer stackable gel combining BMA, DMAEMA and di(ethylene glycol) methyl ether methacrylate (PEO2MA) were synthesized. This patching method, combining conventional FRP gels with ATRP ones, offers an efficient path to the formation of complex stackable gel architectures.

Domain growth in chiral phase transitions: Role of inertial dynamics

Abstract We investigate the kinetics of phase transitions for chiral symmetry breaking in heavy-ion collisions. We use a Langevin description for order-parameter kinetics in the chiral transition. The Langevin equation of motion includes dissipation and an inertial term . We study the ordering dynamics subsequent to a quench from the massless quark phase to the massive quark phase, and discuss the effect of inertia on the growth kinetics.

Kinetics of phase transitions in quark matter

We study the kinetics of chiral transitions in quark matter using a phenomenological framework (Ginzburg-Landau model). We focus on the effect of inertial terms on the coarsening dynamics subsequent to a quench from the massless quark phase to the massive quark phase. The domain growth process shows a crossover from a fast inertial regime (with ) to a diffusive Cahn-Allen regime (with ).

Effect of bond-disorder on the phase-separation kinetics of binary mixtures: A Monte Carlo simulation study

We present Monte Carlo (MC) simulation studies of phase separation in binary (AB) mixtures with bond-disorder that is introduced in two different ways: (i) at randomly selected lattice sites and (ii) at regularly selected sites. The Ising model with spin exchange (Kawasaki) dynamics represents the segregation kinetics in conserved binary mixtures. We find that the dynamical scaling changes significantly by varying the number of disordered sites in the case where bond-disorder is introduced at the randomly selected sites. On the other hand, when we introduce the bond-disorder in a regular fashion, the system follows the dynamical scaling for the modest number of disordered sites. For a higher number of disordered sites, the evolution morphology illustrates a lamellar pattern formation. Our MC results are consistent with the Lifshitz-Slyozov power-law growth in all the cases.

Ordering Dynamics in Neuron Activity Pattern Model: An Insight to Brain Functionality

We study the domain ordering kinetics in d = 2 ferromagnets which corresponds to populated neuron activities with both long-ranged interactions, V(r) ∼ r −n and short-ranged interactions. We present the results from comprehensive Monte Carlo (MC) simulations for the nonconserved Ising model with n ≥ 2, interaction range considering near and far neighbors. Our model results could represent the long-ranged neuron kinetics (n ≤ 4) in consistent with the same dynamical behaviour of short-ranged case (n ≥ 4) at far below and near criticality. We found that emergence of fast and slow kinetics of long and short ranged case could imitate the formation of connections among near and distant neurons. The calculated characteristic length scale in long-ranged interaction is found to be n independent (L(t) ∼ t 1/(n−2)), whereas short-ranged interaction follows L(t) ∼ t 1/2 law and approximately preserve universality in domain kinetics. Further, we did the comparative study of phase ordering near the critical temperature which follows different behaviours of domain ordering near and far critical temperature but follows universal scaling law.