title: Spontaneous emergence of ordered phases in crumpled sheets.
abstract: X-ray tomography is performed to acquire 3D images of crumpled aluminum foils. We develop an algorithm to trace out the labyrinthian paths in the three perpendicular cross sections of the data matrices. The tangent-tangent correlation function along each path is found to decay exponentially with an effective persistence length that shortens as the crumpled ball becomes more compact. In the meantime, we observed ordered domains near the crust, similar to the lamellae phase mixed by the amorphous portion in lyotropic liquid crystals. The size and density of these domains grow with further compaction, and their orientation favors either perpendicular or parallel to the radial direction. Ordering is also identified near the core with an arbitrary orientation, exemplary of the spontaneous symmetry breaking.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan 300, Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yen-Chih
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Ji-Ming
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Jen-Hao
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Hsiao
authors.forename: Yeukuang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hwu
authors.forename: C L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Tzay-Ming
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Hong