Energy-minimizing wavelengths of equilibrium states for diblock copolymers in the hex-cylinder phase

Abstract

We investigate the energy-minimizing wavelengths of equilibrium states for diblock copolymers in the hex-cylinder phase. The mathematical model is the Cahn-Hilliard equation with long-range interactions. The numerical scheme is based on a linearly gradient stable method and the resulting discrete system of equations is solved by a Fourier-spectral method. We solve the equations in non-square domains because the periodic unit is not a square. We choose the computational domains as rectangles of aspect ratio root 3 (height/width). We run the computation until the system reaches a numerical equilibrium state. We repeat these calculations in domains of gradually increasing size and then find the wavelength that minimizes the domain-size-scaled total energy. We investigate the effect of the parameters on the energy-minimizing wavelength. We also propose a formula for a non-square domain that is close to a square domain and has an exact periodicity. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.