title: Crystallography on curved surfaces.
abstract: We study static and dynamical properties that distinguish 2D crystals constrained to lie on a curved substrate from their flat-space counterparts. A generic mechanism of dislocation unbinding in the presence of varying Gaussian curvature is presented in the context of a model surface amenable to full analytical treatment. We find that glide diffusion of isolated dislocations is suppressed by a binding potential of purely geometrical origin. Finally, the energetics and biased diffusion dynamics of point defects such as vacancies and interstitials are explained in terms of their geometric potential.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6396, USA. vitelli@sas.upenn.edu
authors.forename: Vincenzo
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Vitelli
authors.forename: J B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Lucks
authors.forename: D R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Nelson
mesh_terms: D003461:Crystallography; D008433:Mathematics; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D013499:Surface Properties