Simulation study of nucleation in a phase-field model with nonlocal interactions

We examine the phenomenon of nucleation in a two-dimensional phase-field model in order to calculate quantities associated with a field-theoretic model and to determine the impact of spatially nonlocal interactions on both droplet morphology and nucleation rate. We use an approximate numerical technique, together with model A Langevin dynamics, in order to characterize the saddle surface that separates stable and metastable states in function space. We thus obtain the free energy of formation of a critical droplet as well as the statistical prefactor, which, except for a dynamical prefactor, determine the nucleation rate. The standard Ginzburg-Landau energy is employed and, in addition, we consider the role of a short-range, spatially nonlocal interaction on nucleation.