Dilute Limit Coarsening with an Anisotropic Surface Tension

Abstract

We investigate the impact of an anisotropic surface tension on the late-stage dilute phase separation dynamics, revisiting the seminal Lifshitz-Slyozov (LS) theory, which traditionally relies on the assumption of isotropic surface tension. Using a perturbative treatment for weak anisotropy, we demonstrate that although the characteristic $t^{1/3}$ drop growth law remains unchanged, the anisotropy causes a significant breakdown of morphological universality. Specifically, we calculate explicitly a one-parameter family of nonequilibrium drop shapes that depend on the scaled drop size. These shapes are close to the equilibrium Wulff shape, but the smaller drops are more spherical and the larger drops have an enhanced anisotropy in comparison to the Wulff shape. We also demonstrate that the the drop size distribution is modified from the isotropic LS distribution at second order in the anisotropy strength.