skip to main content

Attention:

The NSF Public Access Repository (NSF-PAR) system and access will be unavailable from 11:00 PM ET on Thursday, October 10 until 2:00 AM ET on Friday, October 11 due to maintenance. We apologize for the inconvenience.


Title: Shear displacement gradient in X-ray Bragg coherent diffractive imaging
Bragg coherent X-ray diffractive imaging is a cutting-edge method for recovering three-dimensional crystal structure with nanoscale resolution. Phase retrieval provides an atomic displacement parallel to the Bragg peak reciprocal lattice vector. The derivative of the displacement along the same vector provides the normal strain field, which typically serves as a proxy for any structural changes. In this communication it is found that the other component of the displacement gradient, perpendicular to the reciprocal lattice vector, provides additional information from the experimental data collected from nanocrystals with mobile dislocations. Demonstration on published experimental data show how the perpendicular component of the displacement gradient adds to existing analysis, enabling an estimate for the external stresses, pinpointing the location of surface dislocations, and predicting the dislocation motion in in situ experiments.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1944907
NSF-PAR ID:
10379541
Author(s) / Creator(s):
;
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Journal of Synchrotron Radiation
Volume:
29
Issue:
3
ISSN:
1600-5775
Page Range / eLocation ID:
866 to 870
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. The equations of dislocation transport at finite crystal deformation were developed, with a special emphasis on a vector density representation of dislocations. A companion thermodynamic analysis yielded a generalized expression for the driving force of dislocations that depend on Mandel (Cauchy) stress in the reference (spatial) configurations and the contribution of the dislocation core energy to the free energy of the crystal. Our formulation relied on several dislocation density tensor measures linked to the incompatibility of the plastic distortion in the crystal. While previous works develop such tensors starting from the multiplicative decomposition of the deformation gradient, we developed the tensor measures of the dislocation density and the dislocation flux from the additive decomposition of the displacement gradient and the crystal velocity fields. The two-point dislocation density measures defined by the referential curl of the plastic distortion and the spatial curl of the inverse elastic distortion and the associate dislocation currents were found to be more useful in deriving the referential and spatial forms of the transport equations for the vector density of dislocations. A few test problems showing the effect of finite deformation on the static dislocation fields are presented, with a particular attention to lattice rotation. The framework developed provides the theoretical basis for investigating crystal plasticity and dislocation patterning at the mesoscale, and it bears the potential for realistic comparison with experiments upon numerical solution. 
    more » « less
  2. Abstract

    Current induced spin-orbit torque (SOT) holds great promise for next generation magnetic-memory technology. Field-free SOT switching of perpendicular magnetization requires the breaking of in-plane symmetry, which can be artificially introduced by external magnetic field, exchange coupling or device asymmetry. Recently it has been shown that the exploitation of inherent crystal symmetry offers a simple and potentially efficient route towards field-free switching. However, applying this approach to the benchmark SOT materials such as ferromagnets and heavy metals is challenging. Here, we present a strategy to break the in-plane symmetry of Pt/Co heterostructures by designing the orientation of Burgers vectors of dislocations. We show that the lattice of Pt/Co is tilted by about 1.2° when the Burgers vector has an out-of-plane component. Consequently, a tilted magnetic easy axis is induced and can be tuned from nearly in-plane to out-of-plane, enabling the field-free SOT switching of perpendicular magnetization components at room temperature with a relatively low current density (~1011 A/m2) and excellent stability (> 104cycles). This strategy is expected to be applicable to engineer a wide range of symmetry-related functionalities for future electronic and magnetic devices.

     
    more » « less
  3. Abstract

    Subwavelength imaging of elastic/acoustic waves using phononic crystals (PCs) is limited to a narrow frequency range via the two existing mechanisms that utilize either the intense Bragg scattering in the first phonon band or negative effective properties (left-handed material) in the second (or higher) phonon band. In the first phonon band, the imaging phenomenon can only exist at frequencies closer to the first Bragg band gap where the equal frequency contours (EFCs) are convex. Whereas, for the left-handed materials, the subwavelength imaging is restricted to a narrow frequency region where wave vectors in PC and background material are close to each other, which is essential for single-point image formation. In this work, we propose a PC lens for broadband subwavelength imaging of flexural waves in plates exploiting the second phonon band and the anisotropy of a PC lattice for the first time. Using a square lattice design with square-shaped EFCs, we enable the group velocity vector to always be perpendicular to the lens interface irrespective of the frequency and incidence angle; thus, resulting in a broadband imaging capability. We numerically and experimentally demonstrate subwavelength imaging using this concept over a significantly broadband frequency range.

     
    more » « less
  4. Diffuse scattering occurring in the Bragg diffraction pattern of a long-range-ordered structure represents local deviation from the governing regular lattice. However, interpreting the real-space structure from the diffraction pattern presents a significant challenge because of the dramatic difference in intensity between the Bragg and diffuse components of the total scattering function. In contrast to the sharp Bragg diffraction, the diffuse signal has generally been considered to be a weak expansive or continuous background signal. Herein, using 1D and 2D models, it is demonstrated that diffuse scattering in fact consists of a complex array of high-frequency features that must not be averaged into a low-frequency background signal. To evaluate the actual diffuse scattering effectively, an algorithm has been developed that uses robust statistics and traditional signal processing techniques to identify Bragg peaks as signal outliers which can be removed from the overall scattering data and then replaced by statistically valid fill values. This method, described as a `K-space algorithmic reconstruction' (KAREN), can identify Bragg reflections independent of prior knowledge of a system's unit cell. KAREN does not alter any data other than that in the immediate vicinity of the Bragg reflections, and reconstructs the diffuse component surrounding the Bragg peaks without introducing discontinuities which induce Fourier ripples or artifacts from underfilling `punched' voids. The KAREN algorithm for reconstructing diffuse scattering provides demonstrably better resolution than can be obtained from previously described punch-and-fill methods. The superior structural resolution obtained using the KAREN method is demonstrated by evaluating the complex ordered diffuse scattering observed from the neutron diffraction of a single plastic crystal of CBr 4 using pair distribution function analysis. 
    more » « less
  5. Abstract

    A preceding 2023 study argued that the resistance of a heterogeneous material to the curvature of the displacement field is the most physically realistic localization limiter for softening damage. The curvature was characterized by the second gradient of the displacement vector field, which includes the material rotation gradient, and was named the “sprain” tensor, while the term “spress” is here proposed as the force variable work-conjugate to “sprain.” The partial derivatives of the associated sprain energy density yielded in the preceeding study, sets of curvature resisting self-equilibrated nodal sprain forces. However, the fact that the sprain forces had to be applied on the adjacent nodes of a finite element greatly complicated the programming and extended the simulation time in a commercial code such as abaqus by almost two orders of magnitude. In the present model, Smooth Lagrangian Crack Band Model (slCBM), these computational obstacles are here overcome by using finite elements with linear shape functions for both the displacement vector and for an approximate displacement gradient tensor. A crucial feature is that the nodal values of the approximate gradient tensor are shared by adjacent finite elements. The actual displacement gradient tensor calculated from the nodal displacement vectors is constrained to the approximate displacement gradient tensor by means of a Lagrange multiplier tensor, either one for each element or one for each node. The gradient tensor of the approximate gradient tensor then represents the approximate third-order displacement curvature tensor, or Hessian of the displacement field. Importantly, the Lagrange multiplier behaves as an externally applied generalized moment density that, similar to gravity, does not affect the total strain-plus-sprain energy density of material. The Helmholtz free energy of the finite element and its associated stiffness matrix are formulated and implemented in a user’s element of abaqus. The conditions of stationary values of the total free energy of the structure with respect to the nodal degrees-of-freedom yield the set of equilibrium equations of the structure for each loading step. One- and two-dimensional examples of crack growth in fracture specimens are given. It is demonstrated that the simulation results of the three-point bend test are independent of the orientation of a regular square mesh, capture the width variation of the crack band, the damage strain profile across the band, and converge as the finite element mesh is refined.

     
    more » « less