Columnar domains and anisotropic growth laws in dipolar systems

Accelerated inertial regime in the spinodal decomposition of magnetic fluids

Furukawa predicted that at late times, the domain growth in binary fluids scales as (t) ∼ t^2/3, and the growth is driven by fluid inertia. The inertial growth regime has been highly elusive in molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. We perform coarsening studies of the (d = 3) Stockmayer (SM) model comprising of magnetic dipoles that interact via long-range dipolar interactions as well as the usual Lennard-Jones (LJ) potential. This fascinating polar fluid exhibits a gas-liquid phase coexistence, and magnetic order even in the absence of an external field. From comprehensive MD simulations, we observe the inertial scaling [(t) ∼ t^2/3] in the SM fluid for an extended time window. Intriguingly, the fluid inertia is overwhelming from the outset - our simulations do not show the early diffusive regime [(t) ∼ t^1/3] and the intermediate viscous regime [(t) ∼ t] prevalent in LJ fluids.

Dipolar Ising model: Phases, growth laws, and universality

The behavior of many magnetic and dielectric solids, and the more contemporary magnetic superlattices, is governed by dipolar interactions. They are anisotropic and long ranged, having varied consequences ranging from ground states with complicated magnetic order to the presence of glassy dynamics characterized by a plethora of relaxation times. These systems are well captured by the dipolar Ising model (DIM) with nearest-neighbor exchange interactions (J) and long-range dipolar interactions (D). Depending on the relative interaction strength Γ=J/D, there are four phases of distinct magnetic order and symmetry. Using Monte Carlo simulations, we perform deep quenches to study domain growth or coarsening in the d=3 DIM. This important nonequilibrium phenomenon has not been addressed as dipolar interactions are notoriously difficult to handle theoretically. Our study reveals that, in spite of the anisotropy in interactions and diversity in ground state configurations, we observe universality in the ordering dynamics of all phases.