Role of Metastable States in Phase Ordering Dynamics

Preprint

20 January 1997

preprint
Published by arXiv in arXiv

https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.cond-mat/9701110

Abstract

We show that the rate of separation of two phases of different densities (e.g. gas and solid) can be radically altered by the presence of a metastable intermediate phase (e.g. liquid). Within a Cahn-Hilliard theory we study the growth in one dimension of a solid droplet from a supersaturated gas. A moving interface between solid and gas phases (say) can, for sufficient (transient) supersaturation, unbind into two interfaces separated by a slab of metastable liquid phase. We investigate the criteria for unbinding, and show that it may strongly impede the growth of the solid phase.

Keywords

PHASES OF DIFFERENT
ORDERING DYNAMICS
METASTABLE STATES
SUPERSATURATION
PHASE ORDERING
INTERFACES
UNBINDING
GROWTH

All Related Versions

Version 1, 1997-01-15, ArXiv
Version 2, 1997-01-20, ArXiv
Published version: Europhysics Letters, 38 (8), 595.

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