Semiconductor-metal phase transition in LaBi under high pressure

Physics of the Solid State - The effect of pressure up to 22 GPa on the electrical resistance and thermopower of lanthanum monobismuthide at room temperature has been studied. A semiconductor-metal...     

Semiconductor-metal transition in selenium under shock compression

Phase transitions in selenium are studied by time-resolved measurements of the electrical conductivity under shock compression at a pressure of up to 32 GPa. The pressure dependence of the electrical conductivity (σ(P)) has two portions: a sharp increase at P < 21 GPa and a plateau at P > 21 GPa. The experimental data and the temperature estimates indicate that, at P < 21 GPa, selenium is in the semiconductor state. The energy gap of semiconducting selenium decreases substantially under compression. At P > 21 GPa, the electrical conductivity saturates at ～10⁴ Ω^?1 cm^?1. Such a high value of the electrical conductivity shows the effective semiconductor-metal transition taking place in shock-compressed selenium. Experiments with samples having different initial densities demonstrate the effect of temperature on the phase transition. For example, powdered selenium experiences the transition at a lower shock pressure than solid selenium. Comparison of the temperature estimates with the phase diagram of selenium shows that powdered selenium metallizes in a shock wave as a result of melting. The most plausible mechanism behind the shock-induced semiconductor-metal transition in solid selenium is melting or the transition in the solid phase. Under shock compression, the metallic phase arises without a noticeable time delay. After relief, the metallic phase persists for a time, delaying the reverse transition.     

Semiconductor-metal kinetic phase transition in nearly magnetic semiconductors exemplified with iron monosilicide

Iron monosilicide is used to study the possibility of the semiconductor-metal kinetic phase trans-formation in nearly magnetic semiconductors. It is shown that the heat released by current flow gives rise to a growth in amplitude of spin fluctuations and the attendant splitting of electronic spectra, which, in turn, brings about gap closure and an avalanche increase in the number of charge carriers.     

Friction and wear of a spherical indenter under influence of out-of-plane ultrasonic oscillations

This paper presents an experimental and theoretical investigation of friction and wear of a spherical indenter. With the pin-on-disc-tribometer the out-of-plane oscillations are applied to the sliding indenter. Oscillations lead to a decrease of the coefficient of friction, and this effect is also related to the sliding velocity and oscillation amplitude. During the sliding movement, the contact area of indenter increases due to the wear of material. This radius of the worn spherical cap is measured after each sliding period. It is found that the radius of the wear flat increases with sliding distance according to a power law with the power 1/4 and is independent of the sliding velocity. It further is practically insensitive to the presence of oscillations. A theoretical analysis and a numerical simulation based on the method of dimensionality reduction are carried out, both describing the experimental data very well.     

Shear induced phase transition in PbO under high pressure

We have studied the structural behavior of lead monoxide (PbO) as a function of pressure via angular dispersive X-ray diffraction employing two different pressure transmitting media that were quasi-hydrostatic (N₂) and non-hydrostatic (MgO), respectively. Besides litharge (-PbO) and massicot (β-PbO), which are both stable at ambient pressure, there is an orthorhombic γ-PbO phase which appears upon application of pressure to -PbO. We have found that the orthorhombic γ-PbO phase is favored by shear stress under non-hydrostatic conditions. -PbO shows strong anisotropy in compressibility. The a-axis is rather incompressible with a linear stiffness coefficient of K_a0=540(30) GPa whereas the c-axis stiffness is K_c0=25(1) GPa. The bulk modulus of -PbO is K₀=23.1(3) GPa and its derivative .     

Further evidence of a phase transition induced by external noise

Transitions in a biochemical model with multiple (one or three) steady states can be a genuine consequence of external noise, in agreement with an earlier finding by Horsthemke and Lefever.     

First-order phase transition of triangulated surfaces on a spherical core

We study an intrinsic curvature model defined on fixed-connectivity triangulated lattices enclosing a spherical core by using the canonical Monte Carlo simulation technique. We find that the model undergoes a discontinuous transition of shape transformation between the smooth state and a collapsed state even when the core radius $R$ is sufficiently large; the transition depends on $R$. The origin of the multitude of transitions is considered to be a degeneracy of the collapsed states. We also find that the Gaussian bond potential $S_1/N$, which is the sum of bond length squares, discontinuously changes at the transition. The discontinuity in $S_1/N$ implies a possibility of large fluctuations of the distance between lipids, or the density of lipids, in biological membranes such as giant vesicles or liposomes enclosing some materials.     

Phase separation in colloidal suspensions induced by a solvent phase transition

A colloidal suspension of macroparticles in a solvent is considered near a solvent first-order phase transition. The solvent phase transition is described by a Ginzburg-Landau model with a one-component order parameter which is coupled to the macroparticles coordinates. Wetting of the macroparticle surface by one of the two coexisting phases can induce phase separation of the colloidal particles. This phase separation is first explained by simple thermodynamic arguments and then confirmed by computer simulation of the Ginzburg-Landau model coupled to the macroparticles. Furthermore a topological diagnosis of the interface between the stable and metastable phase is given near phase separation and possible experimental consequences of the phase separation are discussed.     

Light induced gas-liquid phase transition

The resonant radiation is proved to be capable of effectively changing critical parameters and coexistence region of the gas-liquid system.     

应力作用下GdTiO_3磁序相变的第一性原理研究

采用基于密度泛函理论的第一性原理方法,系统研究了GdTiO_3薄膜在压缩应力和拉伸应力作用下的磁序相变.计算结果表明:1)在LaAlO_3压缩衬底的作用下,GdTiO_3薄膜从铁磁基态转变为G型反铁磁基态.该结果不同于YTiO_3和LaTiO_3在LaAlO_3压缩衬底作用时都呈现A型反铁磁基态的情况.若进一步加大压缩应力,例如在(001)平面施加YTiO_3衬底,此时GdTiO_3薄膜基态才为A型反铁磁态.2)在LaScO_3和BaZrO_3拉伸衬底的作用下,GdTiO_3薄膜的基态仍是铁磁态,但是随着拉伸应力的增大,A型反铁磁态的能量和铁磁态的能量差逐渐缩小,即GdTiO_3薄膜的基态有转变为A型反铁磁态的趋势.3)在外加应力的作用下,GdTiO_3薄膜基态的磁序发生了相变,但是其绝缘性并没有变,说明GdTiO_3薄膜仍为Mott型绝缘体.     

Chiral phase transition from the Dyson-Schwinger equations in a finite spherical volume

Within the framework of the Dyson-Schwinger equations and by means of Multiple Reflection Expansion,we study the effect of finite volume on the chiral phase transition in a sphere, and discuss in particular its influence on the possible location of the critical end point(CEP). According to our calculations, when we take a sphere instead of a cube, the influence of finite volume on phase transition is not as significant as previously calculated. For instance,as the radius of the spherical volume decreases from infinite to 2 fm, the critical temperature T c, at zero chemical potential and finite temperature, drops only slightly. At finite chemical potential and finite temperature, the location of CEP shifts towards smaller temperature and higher chemical potential, but the amplitude of the variation does not exceed 20%. As a result, we find that not only the size of the volume but also its shape have a considerable impact on the phase transition.     

Size segregation in granular media induced by phase transition

In order to study analytically the nature of the size segregation in granular mixtures, we introduce a mean field theory in the framework of a statistical mechanics approach, based on Edwards' original ideas. For simplicity we apply the theory to a lattice model for a hard sphere binary mixture under gravity, and we find a new purely thermodynamic mechanism that gives rise to the size segregation phenomenon. By varying the number of small grains and the mass ratio, we find a crossover from the Brazil nut to the reverse Brazil nut effect, which becomes a true phase transition when the number of small grains is larger then a critical value. We suggest that this transition is induced by the effective attraction between large grains due to the presence of small ones (depletion force). Finally the theoretical results are confirmed by numerical simulations of the 3d system under taps.     

Structural phase transition of aluminum induced by electronic excitation

The dynamics of a structural phase transition induced by interband electronic excitation in aluminum is studied by determining the time evolution of the dielectric constant at 1.55 eV through the measurement of the transient reflectivity induced by an ultrafast pump pulse. The threshold fluence and the time scale for this transition are significantly less than the values necessary for ultrafast heat-induced melting, indicating that this phase change is caused by band structure collapse and lattice instability resulting from strong electronic excitation.     

Pressure induced phase transition in PbSnTe

Hall coefficient R_H and resistivity ? for Pb_0.56Sn_0.44Te crystal were measured as a function of temperature and pressure in the region of the ferroelectric phase transition. It enabled to obtain the pressure dependence of the phase transition temperature. Analysis of the experimental data showed that the lattice anharmonicity gives the dominant contribution to the phase transition mechanism.     

Pressure induced phase transition in ZnS

The phase transition of ZnS from the zincblende (ZB) structure to the rocksalt (RS) structure is investigated by the ab initio plane-wave pseudopotential density functional theory method. It is found that the pressures for transition from the ZB structure to the RS structure are 17.5 GPa from total energy-volume data and 15.4 GPa from equal enthalpies, consistent with the experimental data. From the high pressure elastic constants obtained, we find that the ZB structure ZnS is unstable when the applied pressure is larger than 17 GPa. Moreover, the dependence of the normalized primitive cell volume V/V₀ on pressure P can also be successfully obtained.     

Interface formation and a structural phase transition for the spherical model of ferromagnetism

A detailed analysis is reported examining the local magnetic susceptibility (r), in relation to the correlation functionG(R) and correlation length , of a spherical model ferromagnet confined to geometry =L ^{d –d} × ^d ( ^d 2,d>2) under a continuous set oftwisted boundary conditions. The twist parameter in this problem may be interpreted as a measure of the geometry-dependent doping level of interfacial impurities (or antiferromagnetic seams) in theextended system at various temperatures. For _j 0, jd-d, no seams are present except at infinity, whereas if _j = 1/2, impurity saturation occurs. For 0 < _j < 1/2 the physical domain _phys =D ^{d –d} × ^d (D>L), defining the region between seams containing the origin, depends on temperature above a certain threshold (T>T ₀). Below that temperature (T>T ₀), seams are frozen at the same position (DL/2,d-d'=1), revealing a smoothly varying largescale structural phase transition.     

Structure of the phase transition zone in solids induced by a shock wave

The problem of a strong shock wave inducing a phase transition in a solid medium is considered. It is assumed that the solid medium transforms from a low pressure phase to a high pressure phase. A relation between the density of the medium and the function of advancement of the transition is obtained. The behaviour of some other thermodynamical parameters in the transition zone is found. All the equations are expressed in terms of dimensionless quantities and are then valid for a wide range of materials. Some particular examples as well as numerical results are presented.     

Ultrafast semiconductor-metal phase transition in vanadium dioxide induced by a femtosecond laser pulse

A model is proposed for a photoinduced Peierls-type semiconductor-metal phase transition that makes it possible to determine the time dependence of the bandgap width in the electronic spectrum of vanadium dioxide subjected to a light field and the dependence of the time at which a photoinduced semiconductor-metal phase transition occurs on the laser pulse duration. The theoretical results obtained are consistent with experimental data on the illumination of a VO₂ film with an intense laser pulse.