Hexatic smectic phase with algebraically decaying bond-orientational order
Title | Hexatic smectic phase with algebraically decaying bond-orientational order |
Publication Type | Journal Article |
Year of Publication | 2018 |
Authors | Lorenzo, A., Metere A., & Dzugutov M. |
Date Published | 05/2018 |
Keywords | Atomic, Condensed Matter & Materials Physics, General Physics, Interdisciplinary Physics, Molecular & Optical, Particles & Fields, Polymers & Soft Matter, Statistical Physics |
Abstract | The hexatic phase predicted by the theories of two-dimensional melting is characterized by the power-law decay of the orientational correlations, whereas the in-layer bond orientational order in all the hexatic smectic phases observed so far was found to be long range. We report a hexatic smectic phase where the in-layer bond orientational correlations decay algebraically, in quantitative agreement with the hexatic ordering predicted by the theory for two dimensions. The phase was formed in a molecular dynamics simulation of a one-component system of particles interacting via a spherically symmetric potential. The present results thus demonstrate that the theoretically predicted two-dimensional hexatic order can exist in a three-dimensional system. |
URL | https://journals.aps.org/pre/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevE.97.052702 |
DOI | 10.1103/PhysRevE.97.052702 |