Nature Communications (Jun 2020)

Pile-up transmission and reflection of topological defects at grain boundaries in colloidal crystals

  • Xin Cao,
  • Emanuele Panizon,
  • Andrea Vanossi,
  • Nicola Manini,
  • Erio Tosatti,
  • Clemens Bechinger

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-16870-w
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 11, no. 1
pp. 1 – 8

Abstract

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The plastic flow of crystals takes place via the elementary flow of topological defects and is strongly influenced by the presence of grain boundaries. Here, the authors show how the atomic structure of grain boundaries affects the dynamics of interstitial defects driven across monolayer colloidal polycrystals.