Analytical and numerical analyses were made of a dislocation cloud which surrounded a disclination. The analytical results showed that the combined system behaved as a single disclination which had an effective charge which could be calculated from the properties of the grain boundaries which formed the dislocation cloud. Expressions were also given for the situation where the crystal was subjected to an external 2-dimensional pressure. The analytical results were generalized to a scaled form, for the energy, which (up to core energies) was given by the Young’s modulus of the crystal; multiplied by a universal function. The truth of this claimed universality was checked numerically, to high accuracy. The numerical approach permitted the computation of the energy for an arbitrary distribution of defects, given an arbitrary geometry and an arbitrary elastic energy, with very little additional effort.

Universality in the Screening Cloud of Dislocations Surrounding a Disclination. A.Travesset: Physical Review B, 2003, 68[11], 115421 (15pp)