Using statistical field theory supplemented with molecular dynamics simulations, we consider premelting on the surface of ice as a generic consequence of broken hydrogen bonds at the boundary between the condensed and gaseous phases. A procedure for coarse-graining molecular configurations onto a continuous scalar order parameter field is discussed, which provides a convenient representation of...

We develop a semiquantitative theory to describe the experimentally observed energy gain when two light beams intersect in hybrid organic-inorganic photorefractives. These systems consist of a nematic liquid-crystal (LC) layer placed between two photorefractive windows. A periodic space-charge field is induced by the interfering light beams in the photorefractive windows. The field penetrates i...

“By the late 1940s, electron spin resonance at the Clarendon Laboratory was moving toward the study of rare earth ions. The problem of working at helium temperatures had been overcome and a wealth of spectra were being observed on the ethyl sulphates. It was not known that crystal field theory would account for the results, which were certainly not characteristic of small departurr.s from cubic...

We theoretically predict and experimentally observe the two-dimensional (2-D) bright solitons in a nonconventionally biased strontium barium niobate (SBN) crystal. A theory describing light propagating in an SBN crystal with a bias field along an arbitrary direction is formulated. Then the existence of 2-D bright solitons in such a crystal is numerically verified. By employing digital holograph...

It is shown that the strain field of an edge dislocation in a smectic crystal must be described in the framework of nonlinear theory, even far away from the core region. We present an exact solution of this nonlinear problem. The result of the linear theory is recovered in the limit of large bending rigidity.

The interaction of a fast electron with a photonic crystal is investigated by solving the Maxwell equations exactly for the external field provided by the electron in the presence of the crystal. The energy loss is obtained from the retarding force exerted on the electron by the induced electric field, and the photon emission probability is calculated from the far-field Poynting vector. The fea...