This article discusses recent attempts to provide a deeper understanding of the thermoreversible “gel” state of colloidal matter and to unravel the analogies between gels at the colloidal level and ...gels at the molecular level, commonly known as network-forming strong liquids. The connection between gel-forming patchy colloids and strong liquids is provided by the limited valence of the inter-particle interactions, i.e. by the presence of a limit in the number of bonded nearest neighbors.
Overview of the SPARC tokamak Creely, A. J.; Greenwald, M. J.; Ballinger, S. B. ...
Journal of plasma physics,
10/2020, Letnik:
86, Številka:
5
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
The SPARC tokamak is a critical next step towards commercial fusion energy. SPARC is designed as a high-field ($B_0 = 12.2$ T), compact ($R_0 = 1.85$ m, $a = 0.57$ m), superconducting, D-T tokamak ...with the goal of producing fusion gain $Q>2$ from a magnetically confined fusion plasma for the first time. Currently under design, SPARC will continue the high-field path of the Alcator series of tokamaks, utilizing new magnets based on rare earth barium copper oxide high-temperature superconductors to achieve high performance in a compact device. The goal of $Q>2$ is achievable with conservative physics assumptions ($H_{98,y2} = 0.7$) and, with the nominal assumption of $H_{98,y2} = 1$, SPARC is projected to attain $Q \approx 11$ and $P_{\textrm {fusion}} \approx 140$ MW. SPARC will therefore constitute a unique platform for burning plasma physics research with high density ($\langle n_{e} \rangle \approx 3 \times 10^{20}\ \textrm {m}^{-3}$), high temperature ($\langle T_e \rangle \approx 7$ keV) and high power density ($P_{\textrm {fusion}}/V_{\textrm {plasma}} \approx 7\ \textrm {MW}\,\textrm {m}^{-3}$) relevant to fusion power plants. SPARC's place in the path to commercial fusion energy, its parameters and the current status of SPARC design work are presented. This work also describes the basis for global performance projections and summarizes some of the physics analysis that is presented in greater detail in the companion articles of this collection.
We investigate, for two water models displaying a liquid-liquid critical point, the relation between changes in dynamic and ther-modynamic anomalies arising from the presence of the liquid-liquid ...critical point. We find a correlation between the dynamic crossover and the locus of specific heat maxima$C_{P}^{max}$("Widom line") emanating from the critical point. Our findings are consistent with a possible relation between the previously hypothesized liquid-liquid phase transition and the transition in the dynamics recently observed in neutron scattering experiments on confined water. More generally, we argue that this connection between$C_{P}^{max}$and dynamic crossover is not limited to the case of water, a hydrogen bond network-forming liquid, but is a more general feature of crossing the Widom line. Specifically, we also study the Jagla potential, a spherically symmetric two-scale potential known to possess a liquid-liquid critical point, in which the competition between two liquid structures is generated by repulsive and attractive ramp interactions.
Multistability is exhibited by a metal–organic framework material that undergoes unique three‐step spin crossover with 20 K thermal hysteresis (see picture). The stepwise transition is coupled to a ...three‐step structural transformation that defines four distinct structural states. The material also exhibits reversible photo‐induced spin crossover.
A four-stepped cascade of Fe(ii) high spin (HS) to low spin (LS) states is demonstrated in a family of 2-D Hofmann materials, Fe
(saltrz)
(M
(CN)
)
·8(H
O) (M
= Pd (
), Pt (
); saltrz = (
)-2-(((4
...-1,2,4-triazol-4-yl)imino)methyl)phenol). Alongside the fully HS and LS Fe(ii) states, fractional spin state stabilization occurs at HS/LS values of 5/6, 2/3, and 1/6. This unconventional spin state periodicity is driven by the presence of multiple spin crossover (SCO) active Fe(ii) sites which are in subtly distinct environments driven by a network of antagonistic host-host and host-guest interactions. Alternating long- and short-range magnetostructural ordering is achieved over the five distinct spin state ratios HS
LS
, HS
LS
, HS
LS
, HS
LS
, and HS
LS
owing to the flexibility of this 2-D interdigitated lattice topology interconnected by intermolecular interactions. A distinct wave-like spin state patterning is structurally evidenced for each intermediate phase.
Glassy colloidal systems Sciortino, F.; Tartaglia, P.
Advances in physics,
09/2005, Letnik:
54, Številka:
6-7
Journal Article
Recenzirano
This review focuses on recent developments in the theoretical, numerical and experimental study of slow dynamics in colloidal systems, with a particular emphasis on the glass transition phenomenon. ...Colloidal systems appear to be particularly suited for tackling the general problem of dynamic arrest, since they show a larger flexibility compared to atomic and molecular glasses because of their size and the possibility of manipulating the physical and chemical properties of the samples. Indeed, a wealth of new effects, not easily observable in molecular liquids, have been predicted and measured in colloidal systems. The slow dynamic behavior of three classes of colloidal suspension is reviewed - hard colloids, short-range attractive colloids and soft colloidal systems - selecting the model systems among the most prominent candidates for grasping the essential features of dynamic arrest. Emphasis is on the possibility of performing a detailed comparison between experimental data and theoretical predictions based on the mode coupling theory of the glass transition. Finally, the importance of understanding the system's kinetic arrest phase diagram, i.e. the regions in phase space where disordered arrested states can be expected, is stressed. When and how these states are kinetically stabilized with respect to the ordered lowest free energy phases is then examined in order to provide a framework for interpreting and developing new ideas in the study of new materials.
Contents
PAGE
1. Introduction
472
2. Theoretical background
473
2.1. Mode coupling theory
473
2.2. MCT features
475
2.3. Other theoretical approaches
479
3. Hard colloids
480
3.1. Hard sphere colloids
481
3.2. Polydisperse hard spheres
485
3.3. Hard ellipsoids
487
4. Attractive colloids
490
4.1. MCT predictions
491
4.2. Experiments
494
4.3. Numerical studies
498
4.4. Higher-order singularities
499
4.5. Mechanical properties
500
4.6. Remarks on attractive colloids
502
5. Soft colloids
504
5.1. Charged colloids and the Wigner glass
504
5.2. Competing interactions: cluster phases
509
5.3. Ultrasoft colloids: star polymers
515
6. Perspectives and conclusions
517
Acknowledgements
518
References
518
We report calculations of the ground-state energies and geometries for clusters of different sizes (up to 80 particles), where individual particles interact simultaneously via a short-ranged ...attractive potential, modeled with a generalization of the Lennard-Jones potential, and a long-ranged repulsive Yukawa potential. We show that for specific choices of the parameters of the repulsive potential, the ground-state energy per particle has a minimum at a finite cluster size. For these values of the parameters in the thermodynamic limit, at low temperatures and small packing fractions, where clustering is favored and cluster-cluster interactions can be neglected, thermodynamically stable cluster phases can be formed. The analysis of the ground-state geometries shows that the spherical shape is marginally stable. In the majority of the studied cases, we find that above a certain size, ground-state clusters preferentially grow almost in one dimension.