Disordered phases, structural studies

In this section we review several studies of phase transitions in adsorbed layers. Phase transitions in adsorbed (2D) fluids and in adsorbed layers of molecules are studied with a combination of path integral Monte Carlo, Gibbs ensemble Monte Carlo (GEMC), and finite size scaling techniques. Phase diagrams of fluids with internal quantum states are analyzed. Adsorbed layers of H2 molecules at a full monolayer coverage in the /3 X /3 structure have a higher transition temperature to the disordered phase compared to the system with the heavier D2 molecules this effect is... 

Lattice models for bulk mixtures have mostly been designed to describe features which are characteristic of systems with low amphiphile content. In particular, models for ternary oil/water/amphiphile systems are challenged to reproduce the reduction of the interfacial tension between water and oil in the presence of amphiphiles, and the existence of a structured disordered phase (a microemulsion) which coexists with an oil-rich and a water-rich phase. We recall that a structured phase is one in which correlation functions show oscillating behavior. Ordered lamellar phases have also been studied, but they are much more influenced by lattice artefacts here than in the case of the chain models. 

The example illustrates how Monte Carlo studies of lattice models can deal with questions which reach far beyond the sheer calculation of phase diagrams. The reason why our particular problem could be studied with such success Hes of course in the fact that it touches a rather fundamental aspect of the physics of amphiphilic systems—the interplay between structure and wetting behavior. In fact, the results should be universal and apply to all systems where structured, disordered phases coexist with non-struc-tured phases. It is this universal character of many issues in surfactant physics which makes these systems so attractive for theoretical physicists. 

Anion-deficient fluorite oxides are also present, for example, U02- c, Ce02-x The presence of anion vacancies in reduced fluorites has been confirmed by diffraction studies. In reduced ceria for example, some well-ordered phases has been reported (Sharma et al 1999). The defective compounds show very high anion mobilities and are useful as conductors and as catalytic materials as will be described later. However, the structures of many anion-deficient fluorite oxides remain unknown because of the shear complexity of the disordered phases. There are, therefore, many opportunities for EM studies to obtain a better understanding of the defect structures and properties of these complex materials which are used in catalysis. 

Regardless of whether the non-imaging of a species is due to preferential field evaporation or to preferential field ionization, the distinguisha-bility of alloy components in ordered alloys makes much easier the identification of lattice defects and of all types of domains, such as orientational and translational domains, and the discernment of order-disorder phase boundaries in ordered alloys, as well as facilitating the study of clustering and order-disorder phase transformation, etc.88 In most cases, image interpretations become self-obvious. For example in PtCo, which has the LI 0 structure, a Co layer can be distinguished from a... 

These conclusions were later supported by time-resolved SAXS experiments by Stiihn et al. (1994) who studied the ordering of a PS-PI diblock with /PS = 0.44 following quenches from the disordered phase into the lamellar phase. They found that the relaxation times of the structure factor were wavevector dependent, and consistent with the Cahn-Hilliard from (Cahn and Hilliard 1958)... 

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