Domain-array melting in the dipolar lattice gas

Abstract

A lattice gas with long-range ${\mathit{R}}^{\mathrm{-}3}$ repulsive interactions is shown to support disk and stripe domains, as well as complex intermediate domain structures. In a sharp-interface limit we examine melting of two-dimensional crystals of disk domains, and the analogous destruction of the stripe phase driven by changing density and temperature. The stripe phase provides an example of a material with two-dimensional smectic order.