Active crystals on a sphere

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

Abstract

Two-dimensional crystals on curved manifolds exhibit nontrivial defect structures. Here we consider "active crystals" on a sphere, which are composed of self-propelled colloidal particles. Our work is based on a phase-field-crystal-type model that involves a density and a polarization field on the sphere. Depending on the strength of the self-propulsion, three different types of crystals are found: a static crystal, a self-spinning "vortex-vortex" crystal containing two vortical poles of the local velocity, and a self-translating "source-sink" crystal with a source pole where crystallization occurs and a sink pole where the active crystal melts. These different crystalline states as well as their defects are studied theoretically here and can in principle be confirmed in experiments.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)052615
JournalPhysical Review E
Volume97
Publication statusPublished - 24 May 2018
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

Scopus 85047780948

Keywords