Spinodal Decomposition Underlies Evolution of Nanoporosity in De-Alloying

Evolution of speckle during spinodal decomposition.

Time-dependent properties of the speckled intensity patterns created by scattering coherent radiation from materials undergoing spinodal decomposition are investigated by numerical integration of the Cahn-Hilliard-Cook equation. For binary systems which obey a local conservation law, the characteristic domain size is known to grow in time tau as R=[Btau](n) with n=1/3, where B is a constant. Th...

Spinodal decomposition in microemulsions

Monolayer pattern evolution via substrate strain-mediated spinodal decomposition.

Investigations of octylsilane (C8H17SiH3) monolayer pattern formation on Au(111) are reported. Scanning tunneling microscopy data display the evolution of a approximately 6 nm scale pattern of interwoven features concomitant with ejection of surface Au atoms and relaxation of the Au(111) 23xsqrt[3] surface reconstruction. Numerical simulations suggest the surface dynamics are governed by a subs...

Parallel Spinodal Decomposition

Spinodal decomposition encompasses the ordering dynamics of thermodynamically unstable phases. An example of spinodal decomposition is the separation of the metals in a binary alloy. Because physicists have been unable to develop a fully coherent, consistent , and calculable theory on spinodal decomposition, computational studies have served as valuable sources of information. However, since th...

Quantum spinodal decomposition.

We study the process of spinodal decomposition in a scalar quantum field theory that is quenched from an equilibrium disordered initial state at Ti > Tf to a final state at Tf ≈ 0. The process of formation and growth of correlated domains is studied in a Hartree approximation. We find an approximate scaling law for the size of the domains ξD(t) ≈ √ tξ0 at long times for weakly coupled theories,...