Turing Instability in the Solid State: Void Lattices in Irradiated Metals.
Phys Rev Lett
; 124(16): 167401, 2020 Apr 24.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-32383894
ABSTRACT
Turing (or double-diffusive) instabilities describe pattern formation in reaction-diffusion systems, and were proposed in 1952 as a potential mechanism behind pattern formation in nature, such as leopard spots and zebra stripes. Because the mechanism requires the reacting species to have significantly different diffusion rates, only a few liquid phase chemical reaction systems exhibiting the phenomenon have been discovered. In solids the situation is markedly different, since species such as impurities or other defects typically have mobilities âexp(-E/k_{B}T), where E is the migration barrier and T is the temperature. This often leads to mobilities differing by several orders of magnitude. Here, we use a simple, minimal model to show that an important class of emergent patterns in solids, namely void superlattices in irradiated metals, could also be explained by the Turing mechanism. Analytical results are confirmed by phase field simulations. The model (Cahn-Hilliard equations for interstitial and vacancy concentrations, coupled by generation and annihilation terms) is generic, and the mechanism could also be responsible for the patterns and structure observed in many solid state systems.
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1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Phys Rev Lett
Ano de publicação:
2020
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
Reino Unido