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Andrei Fluerasu

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Published work

6 published item(s)

preprint2026arXiv

Probing Non-Equilibrium Grain Boundary Dynamics with XPCS and Domain-Adaptive Machine Learning

Grain-boundary (GB) dynamics control the stability, mechanical, and functional response of nanocrystalline materials, but direct experimental access to their slow non-equilibrium motion has been limited. Here we establish X-ray photon correlation spectroscopy (XPCS), combined with domain-adaptive machine learning, as a quantitative probe of GB dynamics. Temperature- and grain-size-dependent two-time XPCS measurements in nanocrystalline silicon reveal pronounced departures from time-translation invariance, showing that GB relaxation can remain far from equilibrium over experimental timescales. However, direct extraction of quantitative physical information from these high-dimensional, noisy fluctuation maps faces a significant challenge. To overcome this barrier, we develop a semi-supervised learning framework that transfers physical parameter labels from continuum simulations to unlabeled experimental XPCS maps through domain-adaptive representation alignment. This AI-augmented approach enables the extraction of key kinetic parameters, including bulk diffusivity, GB stiffness, and effective GB concentration, directly from experimental XPCS measurements. Our results show how machine learning can transform indirect fluctuation signals into quantitative materials dynamics, providing a general route to study non-equilibrium defect motion in solids.

preprint2022arXiv

Exploring Nanofibrous Networks with X-ray Photon Correlation Spectroscopy

Nanofibrous networks are the foundation and natural building strategy for all life forms on our planet. Apart from providing structural integrity to cells and tissues, they also provide a porous scaffold allowing transport of substances, where the resulting properties rely on the nanoscale network structure. Recently, there has been a great deal of interest in extracting and reassembling biobased nanofibers to create sustainable, advanced materials with applications ranging from high-performance textiles to artificial tissues. However, achieving structural control of the extracted nanofibers is challenging as it is strongly dependent on the extraction methods and source materials. Furthermore, the small nanofiber cross-sections and fast Brownian dynamics make them notoriously difficult to characterize in dispersions. In this work, we study the diffusive motion of spherical gold nanoparticles in semi-dilute networks of cellulose nanofibers (CNFs) using X-ray Photon Correlation Spectroscopy (XPCS). We find that the motion becomes increasingly subdiffusive with higher CNF concentration, where the dynamics can be decomposed into several superdiffusive relaxation modes in reciprocal space. Using simulations of confined Brownian dynamics in combination with simulated XPCS-experiments, we observe that the dynamic modes can be connected to pore sizes and inter-pore transport properties in the network. The demonstrated analytical strategy by combining experiments using tracer particles with a digital twin may be the key to understand nanoscale properties of nanofibrous networks.

preprint2021arXiv

de Gennes Narrowing and the Relationship Between Structure and Dynamics in Self-Organized Ion Beam Nanopatterning

Investigating the relationship between structure and dynamical processes is a central goal in condensed matter physics. Perhaps the most noted relationship between the two is the phenomenon of de Gennes narrowing, in which relaxation times in liquids are proportional to the scattering structure factor. Here a similar relationship is discovered during the self-organized ion beam nanopatterning of silicon using coherent x-ray scattering. However, in contrast to the exponential relaxation of fluctuations in classic de Gennes narrowing, the dynamic surface exhibits a wide range of behaviors as a function of length scale, with a compressed exponential relaxation at lengths corresponding to the dominant structural motif - self-organized nanoscale ripples. These behaviors are reproduced in simulations of a nonlinear model describing the surface evolution. We suggest that the compressed exponential behavior observed here is due to the morphological persistence of the self-organized surface ripple patterns which form and evolve during ion beam nanopatterning.

preprint2012arXiv

Dynamics in dense hard-sphere colloidal suspensions

The dynamic behavior of a hard-sphere colloidal suspension was studied by X-ray Photon Correlation Spectroscopy and Small Angle X-ray Scattering over a wide range of particle volume fractions. The short-time mobility of the particles was found to be smaller than that of free particles even at relatively low concentrations, showing the importance of indirect hydrodynamic interactions. Hydrodynamic functions were derived from the data and for moderate particle volume fractions (> 0.40) there is a good agreement with earlier many-body theory calculations by Beenakker and Mazur [C.W.J. Beenakker and P. Mazur, Physica A 120, 349 (1984)]. Important discrepancies appear at higher concentrations, above ~0.40, where the hydrodynamic effects are overestimated by the Beenakker-Mazur theory, but predicted accurately by an accelerated Stokesian dynamics algorithm developed by Banchio and Brady [A.J. Banchio and J. F. Brady, J. Chem. Phys. 118, 10323 (2003)]. For the relaxation rates, good agreement was also found between the experimental data and a scaling form predicted by Mode Coupling Theory. In the high concentration range, with the fluid suspensions approaching the glass transition, the long-time diffusion coefficient was compared with the short-time collective diffusion coefficient to verify a scaling relation previously proposed by Segre and Pusey [P.N. Segre and P.N. Pusey, Phys. Rev. Lett. 77, 771 (1996)]. We discuss our results in view of previous experimental attempts to validate this scaling law [L. Lurio et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 84, 785 (2000)]

preprint2010arXiv

Dynamics and rheology under continuous shear flow studied by X-ray photon correlation spectroscopy

X-ray Photon Correlation Spectroscopy (XPCS) has emerged as a unique technique allowing the measurement of dynamics in materials on mesoscopic lengthscales. In particular, applications in soft matter physics cover a broad range of topics which include, but are not limited to, nanostructured materials such as colloidal suspensions or polymers, dynamics at liquid surfaces, membranes and interfaces, and the glass or gel transition. One of the most common problems associated with the use of bright X-ray beams with soft materials is beam induced radiation damage, and this is likely to become an even more limiting factor at future synchrotron and free electron laser sources. Flowing the sample during data acquisition is one of the simplest method allowing to limit the radiation damage. In addition to distributing the dose over many different scatterers, the method also enables new functionalities such as time-resolved studies in mixing cells. Here, we further develop an experimental technique that was recently proposed combining XPCS and continuously flowing samples. More specifically, we use a model system to show how the macroscopic advective response to flow and the microscopic dissipative dynamics (diffusion) can be quantified from the X-ray data. The method has many potential applications, e.g. dynamics of glasses and gels under continuous shear/flow, protein aggregations processes, the interplay between dynamics and rheology in complex fluids.

preprint2010arXiv

Slow dynamics in an azopolymer molecular layer studied by x-ray photon correlation spectroscopy

We report the results of X-ray photon correlation spectroscopy (XPCS) experiments on Langmuir Blodgett multilayers of a photosensitive azo-polymer. Time correlation functions have been measured at different temperatures and momentum transfers (q) and under different illumination conditions (darkness, UV or visible). The correlation functions are well described by the Kohlrausch-Williams-Watts (KWW) form with relaxation times that are proportional to q^-1, which in other systems have been explained in terms of intermittent rearrangements [L. Cipelletti et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 84, 2275-2278 (2000)] or random dipolar interactions within an elastic medium [J.- P. Bouchaud and E. Pitard, Eur. Phys. J. E 6, 231-236 (2001)]. The characteristic relaxation times follow the well known Vogel-Fulcher-Tammann law describing the temperature dependence of the bulk viscosity of this polymer. UV photoperturbation accelerates the relaxation dynamics, in qualitative agreement with the fluidification effect of UV photo-perturbation previously observed by surface rheometry, and is used to drive the system out of equilibrium. Transient dynamics is characterized, by the variance chi of the two-times correlation functions. A clear peak in chi appears at a well defined time tau_C which scales with q^-1 and with the ageing time, in a similar fashion as previously reported in colloidal suspensions [O. Dauchot et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 95, 265701 (2005)]. From an accurate analysis of the correlation functions we could demonstrate a temperature dependent cross-over from KWW compressed to simple exponential behaviour, which is modified by the fluidification due to the optical pumping of the cis-trans isomerisation of the side-chain azobenzene group.