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APS » Journals » Phys. Rev. Lett. » Volume 82 » Issue 11
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Phys. Rev. Lett. 82, 2306–2309 (1999)

Fingering Instability of Dislocations and Related Line Defects

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Ming Li1,2, Brian B. Smith1, and Robin L. B. Selinger1
1Physics Department, Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C. 20064
2Center for Nonlinear Science, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545

Received 5 August 1998; published in the issue dated 15 March 1999

We identify a fundamental morphological instability of mobile dislocations in crystals and related line defects. A positive gradient in the local driving force along the direction of defect motion destabilizes long-wavelength vibrational modes, producing a “fingering” pattern. The minimum unstable wavelength scales as the inverse square root of the force gradient. We demonstrate the instability's onset in simulations of a screw dislocation in Al (via molecular dynamics) and of a vortex in a 3D XY “rotator” model.

© 1999 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.82.2306
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.82.2306
PACS:
61.72.Lk, 47.32.Cc, 62.20.Fe, 75.10.Hk
 
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