Promotionsvortrag Physik: „Simulation and thermodynamics of aperiodic crystals“

Ankündigung des Promotionsvortrags von: Frau Nydia Roxana Varela Rosales

Aperiodic crystals are crystalline structures that lack periodicity (e.g. quasicrystals).

These structures revolutionized the field of crystallography just a few years back. We can find them in many classes of substances, from mono/multi-component elements to complex macromolecules conformed by polymer networks. Nowadays, we can find daily applications of these structures in cookware sets, lithium-ion batteries, commercial razors, and others. The applications of these structures are still in their infancy, promising an exciting potential across numerous fields. Despite progress in understanding these structures, the answer to how their aperiodic order affects physical properties is still unclear.

Our work aims to advance the understanding of the thermodynamics and stability of aperiodic long-range order structures under circumstances where external constraints such as external forces and manifold constraints are taking place. We employ advanced free energy methods to analyze the stability of these structures in 2D and 3D systems of spheres. We also use a novel hybrid sampling technique to investigate the self-assembly of a dodecagonal quasicrystal approximant and facilitate its description which was only possible using quantum mechanical simulation approaches. In summary, this work seeks to further advance the exploration of aperiodic crystals from a theoretical standpoint. We will introduce simulation models for 2D and 3D quasicrystals and their approximants and present systematic studies showing their thermodynamic stability.

(Vortrag auf Englisch)

Dem Vortrag schließt sich eine Diskussion von 15 Minuten an. Vortrag und Diskussion sind öffentlich. Diesen Verfahrensteilen folgt ein nicht öffentliches Rigorosum von 45 Minuten.