Self-Assembly of Monatomic Complex Crystals and Quasicrystals with a Double-Well Interaction Potential

Abstract

For the study of crystal formation and dynamics we introduce a simple two-dimensional monatomic model system with a parametrized interaction potential. We find in molecular dynamics simulations that a surprising variety of crystals, a decagonal and a dodecagonal quasicrystal are self-assembled. In the case of the quasicrystals the particles reorder by phason flips at elevated temperatures. During annealing the entropically stabilized decagonal quasicrystal undergoes a reversible phase transition at 65% of the melting temperature into an approximant, which is monitored by the rotation of the de Bruijn surface in hyperspace.

4 pages, 6 figures. Physical Review Letters, in Press (April 2007)

References in corpus (3)

• Designed Interaction Potentials via Inverse Methods for Self-Assembly
• Synthetic Diamond and Wurtzite Structures Self-Assemble with Isotropic Pair Interactions
• Self-assembly of the simple cubic lattice with an isotropic potential

Cited by in corpus (13)

• Growth modes of quasicrystals
• Dynamics of particle flips in two-dimensional quasicrystals
• Self-assembly of two-dimensional binary quasicrystals: A possible route to a DNA quasicrystal
• NVU perspective on simple liquids' quasiuniversality
• A Structural Model for Octagonal Quasicrystals Derived from Octagonal Symmetry Elements Arising in $\beta$-Mn Crystallization of a Simple Monatomic Liquid
• Structural complexity in monodisperse systems of isotropic particles
• A simple diatomic potential that prevents crystallization in supercooled liquids simulations
• Stability of the decagonal quasicrystal in the Lennard-Jones-Gauss system
• Free-Energy Functional Method for Inverse Problem of Self Assembly
• Crystalline structures of particles interacting through the harmonic-repulsive pair potential
• Vitrification of a monatomic 2D simple liquid
• Harmonic Order Parameters for Characterizing Complex Particle Morphologies
• Fast Generation of Potentials for Self-Assembly of Particles