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Existence of a Hexatic Phase in Porous Media

Ravi Radhakrishnan, Keith E. Gubbins, and Malgorzata Sliwinska-Bartkowiak
Phys. Rev. Lett. 89, 076101 – Published 25 July 2002
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Abstract

Molecular simulations for simple fluids in narrow slit-shaped carbon pores exhibit crystal-hexatic and hexatic-liquid transitions that are consistent with Kosterlitz-Thouless-Halperin-Nelson-Young theory. The temperature range over which the hexatic phase is stable is dramatically widened under confinement. Remarkably, the transitions, which are continuous for a single adsorbed layer, become weakly first order when the pore can accommodate two molecular layers. Nonlinear dielectric effect measurements for CCl4 and aniline in activated carbon fibers (pore width 1.4 nm) show divergence at these transitions, confirming the hexatic phase.

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  • Received 7 August 2000

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.89.076101

©2002 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Ravi Radhakrishnan1, Keith E. Gubbins2, and Malgorzata Sliwinska-Bartkowiak3

  • 1Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, 66-021, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139
  • 2North Carolina State University, 113 Riddick Labs, Raleigh, North Carolina 27695
  • 3Institute of Physics, Adam Mickiewicz University, Umultowska 85, 61-614 Poznan, Poland

See Also

Halfway Home for Thin Films

JR Minkel
Phys. Rev. Focus 10, 5 (2002)

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Issue

Vol. 89, Iss. 7 — 12 August 2002

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