Spontaneous spin-reorientation transition in (NdSmDy)(FeCo)B alloys

A magnetic transition accompanied by a sharp decrease in magnetization has been detected in an (NdSmDy)(FeCo)B alloy at temperature T = 110 K. It is found that the sample undergoes a spin-reorientation transition accompanied with a change in the type of magnetic anisotropy. The “easy axis”-type anisotropy corresponds to high temperatures T > 110 K. A magnetic structure of the type of “the cone of easy-magnetization axes” forms at low temperatures T < 110 K.     

Etude comparative des structures des alumines β stoechiometrique et non stoechiometrique: Transition de phase dans l'alumine β stoechiometrique (II)

The usual preparation methods of β alumina lead to a non stoichiometric compound $\text{(β“N.S.”)}$ of formula 11Al₂O₃?(1 + x) B₂O with x ≈-0.3; a metastable phase with a composition close to stoichiometry $\text{(β“S”}\text{and}\text{x ? 0)}$ can however also be obtained. X-Ray diffuse scattering studies of this stoichiometric form of silver β alumina reveals a sharp order—disorder phase transition at about 307 K. The low temperature ordered state of the silver ions is found to correspond to a 3D hexagonal superstructure with the lattice constants $\text{a}\text{3}\text{, a}\text{3}\text{, c}$. Above the transition temperature 3D short range order is observed up to about 315 K, where a cross over occurs towards a higher temperature 2D short range state, similar to that previously observed at low temperature in $\text{β}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>Ag</mtext>}}\text{“N.S.”}$. Above 500 K the conducting silver ions are found to be in a 2D quasi liquid state. A similar type of order—disorder phase transition seems to occur in stoichiometric sodium β alumina at lower temperature. It is concluded that the very particular behaviour namely the absence of phase transition in the usual forms of β alumina is a direct consequence of non stoichiometry.     

Phenomenological phase diagram of superfluid 3He in a stretched aerogel

Highly anisotropic “nematically ordered” aerogel induces global uniaxial anisotropy in superfluid ³He. The anisotropy lowers symmetry of 3He in the aerogel from spherical to axial. As a result, instead of one transition temperature in a state with an orbital moment l = 1, there are two, corresponding to projections l _z = 0 and l _z = ±1. This splitting has a pronounced effect on the phase diagram of superfluid ³He and on the structures of the appearing phases. Possible phase diagrams obtained phenomenologically on the basis of Landau expansion of the thermodynamic potential in the vicinity of the transition temperature are presented here. The order parameters corresponding to each phase and their temperature dependences are found.     

Analytic study of a sequence of path integral approximations for simple quantum systems at low temperature

The sequence of Feynman-Trotter approximations to the thermal Feynman path integral for the simple harmonic oscillator is obtained in an easily analyzable closed form. While it converges pointwise at every non-zero temperature to the quantum thermal propagator, the sequence manifests a highly non-uniform behaviour in the zero temperature limit—every one of its elements tends toward theclassical ground state (static equilibrium). For high order elements of the sequence, there is an abrupt “collapse” from the quantum to the classical ground state with falling temperature, a phenomenon which bears a possibly misleading resemblance to a phase transition. It is shown that Feynman-Trotter sequences for many simple systems other than the harmonic oscillator also have all their elements tending to the classical static equilibrium state in the zero temperature limit.     

Phase diagrams of weakly anisotropic Heisenberg antiferromagnets: III. Nonlinear excitations and random fields in quasi 2-dimensional systems

The concept of effective field-dependent anisotropy is applied to the “spinflop” transition in the quasi 2-d Heisenberg antiferromagnet with weak orthorhombic anisotropy. From the correspondence between the “spinflop” problem and the commensurate-incommensurate transtion it follows that the “spinflop” is not first order and that random fields may cause domain-wall formation. This would explain the observed broadening of the “spinflop” in K₂MnF₄. In 3-d antiferromagnets such anomalous broadening is not observed, which would agree with the critical dimensionality d_c = 2 for the random-field problem.     

Liquid–gas and other unusual thermal phase transitions in some large-N magnets

Much insight into the low temperature properties of quantum magnets has been gained by generalizing them to symmetry groups of order N, and then studying the large-N limit. In this paper we consider an unusual aspect of their finite temperature behavior—their exhibiting a phase transition between a perfectly paramagnetic state and a paramagnetic state with a finite correlation length at N=∞. We analyze this phenomenon in some detail in the large “spin” (classical) limit of the SU(N) ferromagnet which is also a lattice discretization of the CP^N−1 model. We show that at N=∞ the order of the transition is governed by lattice connectivity. At finite values of N, the transition goes away in one or less dimension but survives on many lattices in two dimensions and higher, for sufficiently large N. The latter conclusion contradicts a recent conjecture of Sokal and Starinets [Nucl. Phys. B 601 (2001) 425], yet is consistent with the known finite temperature behavior of the SU(2) case. We also report closely related first order paramagnet–ferromagnet transitions at large N and shed light on a violation of Elitzur's theorem at infinite N via the large-q limit of the q state Potts model, reformulated as an Ising gauge theory.     

Electronic transition and the metallization effect in the BiFeO<Subscript>3</Subscript> crystal at high pressures

The optical absorption spectra from bismuth ferrite (BiFeO₃) have been studied at high pressures up to 60 GPa in diamond anvil cells. An electronic transition at which the energy of the optical absorption edge decreases sharply from ～1.5 eV to zero has been observed at room temperature in a pressure range of 45–55 GPa. This indirectly indicates a insulator-metal transition. The observed electronic transition correlates with the recently revealed structural and magnetic transitions induced by high pressures in this crystal. The behavior of the optical absorption edge with decreasing the pressure is completely reversible in correlation with the reversibility of the magnetic transition. The “smearing” of the structural transition in pressure is caused by thermal fluctuations between the high-spin state and low-spin state of the Fe³⁺ ions near the transition.     

Three stage cool flame droplet burning behavior of n-alkane droplets at elevated pressure conditions: Hot,warm and cool flame

Transient, isolated n-alkane droplet combustion is simulated at elevated pressure for helium-diluent substituted-air mixtures. We report the presence of unique quasi-steady, three-stage burning behavior of large sphero-symmetric n-alkane droplets at these elevated pressures and helium substituted ambient fractions. Upon initiation of reaction, hot-flame diffusive burning of large droplets is initiated that radiatively extinguishes to establish cool flame burning conditions in nitrogen/oxygen “air” at atmospheric and elevated pressures. However, at elevated pressure and moderate helium substitution for nitrogen (X_He?>?20%), the initiated cool flame burning proceeds through two distinct, quasi-steady-state, cool flame burning conditions. The classical “Hot flame” (～1500?K) radiatively extinguishes into a “Warm flame” burning mode at a moderate maximum reaction zone temperature (～ 970?K), followed by a transition to a lower temperature (～765?K), quasi-steady “Cool flame” burning condition. The reaction zone (“flame”) temperatures are associated with distinctly different yields in intermediate reaction products within the reaction zones and surrounding near-field, and the flame-standoff ratios characterizing each burning mode progressively decrease. The presence of all three stages first appears with helium substitution near 20%, and the duration of each stage is observed to be strongly dependent on helium substitutions level between 20–60%. For helium substitution greater than 60%, the hot flame extinction is followed by only the lower temperature cool flame burning mode. In addition to the strong coupling between the diffusive loss of both energy and species and the slowly evolving degenerate branching in the low and negative temperature coefficient (NTC) kinetic regimes, the competition between the low-temperature chain branching and intermediate-temperature chain termination reactions control the “Warm” and “Cool” flame quasi-steady conditions and transitioning dynamics. Experiments onboard the International Space Station with n-dodecane droplets confirm the existence of these combustion characteristics and predictions agree favorably with these observations.     

Electric-field induced ion-leveraged metal–insulator transition in conducting polymer-based field effect devices

The field effect devices prepared completely from conducting polymers, especially poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)/poly(styrene sulfonic acid) (PEDOT/PSS), were studied. Normally in a conductive “on” state, the transistor-like device has a transition to a substantially less conductive “off” state at an applied positive gate voltage, typically ∼15–25 V. The current ratio I_off/I_on can exceed 10⁻⁴ at room temperature. We have found that the field effect is strongly temperature dependent and is substantially reduced upon decreasing the temperature by only a 10 °C. This loss of current reduction upon application of a gate voltage is not due to the temperature dependence of the electrical conductivity of polymers of which the devices are made. The temperature dependence of the dc conductivity of the PEDOT/PSS follows the variable range hopping law both before and after application of the gate voltage, though with an increased activation energy, T₀. We suggest that the conducting polymer is near the metal–insulator transition and that the field effect in the device is related to the electric field modulating this transition in the region underneath the gate electrode. The transition is controlled and leveraged by ion motion. The time dynamics of the current with the gate modulation strongly supports our conjecture. We demonstrate the generality of the phenomena by presenting similar results for devices fabricated from the conducting polypyrrole doped with Cl.     

A simplified equation of state near nuclear density

The equation of state near nuclear density influences shock formation in stellar collapse Supernovae. The drop in the adiabatic index below $\text{4}\text{3}$ in this region, due to the negative nuclear pressure, disturbs the homology of the inner core and decreases its size. The initial shock energy and formation dynamics are particularly sensitive to matter in this regime.Only matter at low entropies (S ? 1.5) in the unshocked inner core approaches nuclear densities. We derive a simple equation of state for this material and find that nuclear properties are close to those at S = 0. The entropy associated with the nuclear surface can be absorbed into an “effective mass” which decreases towards one with increasing density, giving an accurate accounting for the storage of entropy in the excitation of the large nuclei. Such thermal excitation drains energy with little contribution to the pressure and thus may have important effects on the launching of the shock.Two phase transitions are considered. The first, from the heavy nucleus to the “bubble” phase, occurs at half nuclear matter density and is accomplished by use of simple expressions for the energy and pressure that include effects of the transition implicitly. The second, that to uniform nuclear matter, is done by requiring continuity of the pressure and entropy at the transition. The density at which this transition takes place is calculated and is found to decrease with entropy in a simple manner.With the use of suitable approximations, the equation of state is presented in a non-iterative form easily adapted for use in full hydrodynamical calculations of the supernovae process. Comparison with more detailed equations of state is made and the simplified one is found to represent well all important features.     

Magnetic resonance in amorphous FexNi80-xP14B6: II. Spin glass alloys

We report EPR measurements on amorphous Fe_xNi_80-xP₁₄B₆ alloys for concentrations less than that required for ferromagnetism. Measurements were made at microwave frequencies between 10 and 35 GHz and at temperatures between 2 and 150 K. We find i) at high temperatures the alloys are simple paramagnets with ? ≈ 2.14 and a relaxation rate (linewidth) increasing linearly with temperature, ii) the linewidth increases at low T and follows an empirical form proposed earlier, iii) as the temperature is decreased, the susceptibility (measured by reference to the line intensities) increases, iv) in order to account for the frequency dependence of the resonance field we must introduce an anisotropy energy with uniaxial symmetry; the “hard axis” being normal to the sample plane. The associated anisotropy constant K' appears at several times the spin glass transition temperature T_SG, v) at still lower temperatures ( < 2T_SG) another type of anisotropy field appears. The corresponding anisotropy energy is similar to that introduced to explain data on the reentrant alloys of this system and the archetypal spin glasses CuMn and AgMn and the anisotropy constant K has the same type of temperature dependence. However, the frequency dependence of K is different.     

Elastic properties of crystalline and liquid gallium at high pressures

The elastic properties of gallium, such as the bulk modulus B, the shear modulus G, and the Poisson’s ratio σ, are investigated and the relative change in the volume is determined in the stability regions of the Ga I, Ga II, and liquid phases at pressures of up to 1.7 GPa. The observed lines of the Ga I-Ga II phase transition and the melting curves of the Ga I and Ga II phases are in good agreement with the known phase diagram of gallium; in this case, the coordinates of the Ga I-Ga II-melt triple point are determined to be 1.24 ± 0.40 GPa and 277 ± 2 K. It is shown that the Ga I-Ga II phase transition is accompanied by a considerable decrease in the moduli B (by 30%) and G (by 55%) and an increase in the density by 5.7%. The Poisson’s ratio exhibits a jump from typically covalent values of approximately 0.22–0.25 to values of approximately 0.32–0.33, which are characteristic of metals. The observed behavior of the elastic characteristics is described in the framework of the model of the phase transition from a “quasi-molecular” (partially covalent) metal state to a “normal” metal state. An increase in the Poisson’s ratio in the Ga I phase from 0.22 to 0.25 with an increase in the pressure can be interpreted as a decrease in the degree of covalence, i.e., the degree of spatial anisotropy of the electron density along the bonds, whereas the large value of the pressure derivative of the bulk modulus (equal to approximately 8) observed up to the transition to the Ga II phase or the melt is associated not only with the quasicovalent nature of the Ga I phase but also with the structural features. In view of the presence of seven neighbors for each gallium atom in the Ga I phase, the gallium lattice can be treated as a structure intermediate between typical open-packed and close-packed structures. Premelting effects, such as a flattening of the isothermal dependence of the shear modulus G(p) with increasing pressure and an increase in the slope of the isobaric dependences G(T) with increasing temperature, are revealed in the vicinity of the melting curve. The bulk modulus of liquid gallium near the melting curve proves to be rather close to the corresponding values for the normal metal Ga II.     

Magnetization processes of CuMn below the freezing temperature Tf

A simple classical model [5] that is based on a blocking of magnetic clusters in a uniaxial anisotropy field explains characteristic properties of magnetization processes of Cu(5–15 at.%) Mn as transition states between the “zero point magnetization” M₀ = M(T → OK) and the thermal equilibrium magnetization M_∞ = M(t → ∞, T). Further it shows two facts the experimental confirmations of which we report in this paper: (a) a magnetization decrease with increasing temperature in high fields and (b) a superposition rule for the magnetization processes in small fields and at low temperatures.     

Superconductivity in a simple model of the pseudogap state

An analysis is made of characteristics of the superconducting state (s-and d-pairing) using a simple, exactly solvable model of the pseudogap state produced by fluctuations of the short-range order (such as antiferromagnetic) based on a Fermi surface model with “hot” sections. It is shown that the superconducting gap averaged over these fluctuations is nonzero at temperatures higher than the mean-field superconducting transition temperature T _c over the entire sample. At temperatures T > T _c superconductivity evidently exists in isolated sections (“ drops”). Studies are made of the spectral density and the density of states in which superconducting characteristics exist in the range T > T _c however, in this sense the temperature T = T _c itself is no different in any way. These anomalies show qualitative agreement with various experiments using underdoped high-temperature superconducting cuprates.     

Electronic conduction in quasicrystals at low temperatures

At low temperatures, a perfect quasicrystal is in the “critical” state of metal-insulator transition. A power-law temperature dependence of conductivity, which was experimentally observed at T<5 K in the icosahedral phase of Al-Pd-Re, was obtained using the critical wave functions. Mott’s hopping law was also observed in the Al-Pd-Re samples and explained by the delocalization of electronic states in the momentum space.     

Second-order phase transitions and Ehrenfest equation for strained solids

The equations describing the second-order phase transitions at the hydrostatic and non-hydrostatic pressures are considered. It is shown that the proportionality coefficient between an “effective” volume and the true one V^??=?AV is inversely proportional to the compressibility of the solid at a uniaxial pressure and has a jump at the second-order phase transition. In the case of the non-hydrostatic pressure the “effective” volume of the solid is not a continuous function of temperature and has a jump at the phase transition as well. The Ehrenfest equation is generalized to the solids with an arbitrary homogeneous elastic deformation accompanied by change of the solid volume, in particular, to the solid strained by the uniaxial, biaxial or triaxial pressure. It is shown that the sum of the derivatives of the phase transition temperature with respect to uniaxial pressures applied along axes a, b, c does not coincide with the derivative of the phase transition temperature with respect to the hydrostatic pressure.     

Pseudogap-state superconductivity in a “hot-point” model: Gor’kov equations

The specific features of the superconducting state (with s and d pairing) are considered in terms of a pseudogap state caused by short-range order fluctuations of the “dielectric” type, namely, antiferromagnetic (spin density wave) or charge density wave fluctuations, in a model of the Fermi surface with “hot points.” A set of recurrent Gor’kov equations is derived with inclusion of all Feynman diagrams of a perturbation expansion in the interaction between an electron and short-range order fluctuations causing strong scattering near hot points. The influence of nonmagnetic impurities on superconductivity in such a pseudogap state is analyzed. The critical temperature for the superconducting transition is determined, and the effect of the effective pseudogap width, correlation length of short-range-order fluctuations, and impurity scattering frequency on the temperature dependence of the energy gap is investigated.     

Surface Transitions of the Semi-Infinite Potts Model II: The Low Bulk Temperature Regime

We consider the semi-infinite q–state Potts model. We prove, for large q, the existence of a first order surface phase transition between the ordered phase and the the so-called “new low temperature phase” predicted in,Li in which the bulk is ordered whereas the surface is disordered.     

Imry–Ma disordered state induced by impurities of “random local anisotropy” type in the system with <Emphasis Type="Italic">O</Emphasis>(<Emphasis Type="Italic">n</Emphasis>) symmetry

For the system with the n-component order parameter (O(n)-model), conditions for initiation of the Imry–Ma disordered state resulting from the influence of impurities of the “random local anisotropy” type were discovered. The initiation of such a state was shown to be possible if the distribution of local anisotropy axes directions in the order parameter space is nearly isotropic, and the limiting degree of the distribution anisotropy was found. For a higher anisotropy in the distribution of local axes directions, the long-range order in the system holds true even in the presence of impurities of the given type.     

EuCl3.6H2O中Eu^3＋的^5D0—^7F0跃迁的“反常”温度效应及其跃迁机制研究

研究了ＥｕＣｌ３．６Ｈ２Ｏ的Ｅｕ＾３＋的＾５Ｄ０－＾６Ｆ０“禁戒”跃迁的机制有其“反常”温度效应。通过比较没温度下荧光光谱中＾５Ｄ０－＾６跃迁和＾５Ｄ０－＾７Ｆ０跃迁第一条谱线的强度比，发现由于晶格振动，＾７Ｆ２态通过四个频率为２４５ｃｍ－１的声子与＾７Ｆ０态耦合，使＾７Ｆ０态成为混合态，因而使＾５Ｄ０－＾７Ｆ－的跃迁成为可能，并且其振子强度随温度的变化而变化。