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Crystallography on Curved Surfaces

Vincenzo Vitelli, Julius B. Lucks, David R. Nelson

cond-mat.softarXiv:cond-mat/0604203

Abstract

We study static and dynamical properties that distinguish two dimensional crystals constrained to lie on a curved substrate from their flat space counterparts. A generic mechanism of dislocation unbinding in the presence of varying Gaussian curvature is presented in the context of a model surface amenable to full analytical treatment. We find that glide diffusion of isolated dislocations is suppressed by a binding potential of purely geometrical origin. Finally, the energetics and biased diffusion dynamics of point defects such as vacancies and interstitials is explained in terms of their geometric potential.

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