Self-assembly of quasicrystals under cyclic shear
Abstract
a smoothed square-shoulder potential, we demonstrate that cyclic shearing drives initially random configurations into ordered quasicrystalline states. The resulting non-equilibrium phase diagram qualitatively mirrors that of thermal equilibrium, exhibiting square, quasicrystalline, and hexagonal phases, as well as phase coexistence. Remarkably, the shear-stabilised quasicrystal appears even where the zero-temperature equilibrium ground state favours square-hexagonal coexistence, suggesting that mechanical driving can stabilise quasicrystalline order in a way analogous to entropic effects in thermal systems. The structural quality of the self-assembled state is maximised near the yielding transition, even though the dynamics are slowest there. Yet, the system still quickly forms monodomain quasicrystals without any complex annealing protocols, unlike at equilibrium, where thermal annealing would be required. Finite-size scaling analysis reveals that global orientational order decays slowly with system size, indicative of quasi-long-range order comparable to equilibrium hexatic phases. Overall, our results establish cyclic shear as an efficient pathway for the self-assembly of complex structures.
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BibTeX
@article{maire2026selfassembly,
title = {{Self-assembly of quasicrystals under cyclic shear}},
author = {Raphaël Maire and Andrea Plati and Frank Smallenburg and Giuseppe Foffi},
journal = {Soft Matter},
year = {2026},
month = nov,
doi = {10.1039/d6sm00068a},
eprint = {2601.18403},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://hal.science/hal-05853664v1},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Self-assembly of quasicrystals under cyclic shear
AU - Raphaël Maire
AU - Andrea Plati
AU - Frank Smallenburg
AU - Giuseppe Foffi
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/11/05
JO - Soft Matter
DO - 10.1039/d6sm00068a
UR - https://hal.science/hal-05853664v1
AB - a smoothed square-shoulder potential, we demonstrate that cyclic shearing drives initially random configurations into ordered quasicrystalline states. The resulting non-equilibrium phase diagram qualitatively mirrors that of thermal equilibrium, exhibiting square, quasicrystalline, and hexagonal phases, as well as phase coexistence. Remarkably, the shear-stabilised quasicrystal appears even where the zero-temperature equilibrium ground state favours square-hexagonal coexistence, suggesting that mechanical driving can stabilise quasicrystalline order in a way analogous to entropic effects in thermal systems. The structural quality of the self-assembled state is maximised near the yielding transition, even though the dynamics are slowest there. Yet, the system still quickly forms monodomain quasicrystals without any complex annealing protocols, unlike at equilibrium, where thermal annealing would be required. Finite-size scaling analysis reveals that global orientational order decays slowly with system size, indicative of quasi-long-range order comparable to equilibrium hexatic phases. Overall, our results establish cyclic shear as an efficient pathway for the self-assembly of complex structures.
SN - 1744-683X
SN - 1744-6848
ER -