Plastic flow and localization in an amorphous material: Experimental interpretation of the fluidity.

We present a thorough study of the plastic response of a granular material progressively loaded. We study experimentally the evolution of the plastic field from a homogeneous one to a heterogeneous one and its fluctuations in terms of incremental strain. We show that the plastic field can be decomposed in two components evolving on two decoupled strain increment scales.

Interfacial water on organic substrates at cryogenic temperatures: hydrogen bonding and quantification in the submonolayer regime.

Water molecules were used to probe the physical and chemical properties of a model hydrophilic organic organized layer. To this end, HO adsorption on mercaptoundecanoic acid self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) was investigated at the molecular level under ultra-high vacuum by high resolution electron energy loss spectroscopy (HREELS), through the sensitivity of the water OH stretching modes to the molecular environment. The water interfacial layer formation and structure were studied upon deposition at 28 K.