Neutron diffraction evidence for magnetic phase transition in Europium selenide

The results of a single crystal neutron diffraction study of europium selenide EuSe in zero external magnetic field are reported. At 4.2°K europium selenide is antiferromagnetically ordered according to an oscillating type of spin configuration. Partial ferromagnetism is observed at 1.9°K, in agreement with previous measurements [1, 2]. Concerning this low temperature phase a model with two coexistent magnetic phases is proposed.     

The electrodynamic response of heavy-electron materials with magnetic phase transitions

We have investigated the electrodynamic response of the heavy-electron compounds U₂Zn₁₇, UPd₂Al₃, UCu₅ and URu₂Si₂. Particular emphasis has been devoted to the optical evidence of the antiferromagnetic phase transitions at T_N = 9.7 K, 14 K, 15 K and 17 K for U₂Zn₁₇, UPd₂Al₃, UCu₅ and URu₂Si₂, respectively. In the excitation spectrum of UCu₅ and URu₂Si₂, we found an absorption in the far-infrared, which develops below T_N and is ascribed to the excitation across a spin-density-wave type gap, suggesting that the antiferromagnetic phase transition might be itinerant in nature, and invokes a Fermi surface instability. Since this gap-like feature is absent in U₂Zn₁₇ and UPd₂Al₃, we argue that these latter compounds belong to a characteristically different class of antiferromagnets, representative of the heavy-electron compounds with an ordering of essentially localized magnetic moments. The antiferromagnetic ordering then leads to a suppression of the spin-flip mechanism below T_N. At low temperatures, we observe for all compounds the formation of a narrow Drude-like resonance in the optical conductivity, which is ascribed to the electrodynamic response of the heavy-quasiparticles, and is indicative of the progressive development of the manybody coherent Kondo state, coexisting with both types of magnetic ordering. In this review, we also present the evolution of the optical properties due to Ni- and Redoping in UCu₅ and URu₂Si₂, respectively. The optical evidence of the itinerant antiferromagnetic ordering is suppressed in both compounds upon doping and particularly for the URu₂Si₂ compound this is consistent with a crossover to a ferromagnetic ground state upon Re-doping.     

First order magnetic phase transition in GeCo2O4

The antiferromagnetic compound GeCo₂O₄ exhibits a magnetic phase transition characterized by thermal hysteresis of the susceptibility versus temperature curve and by a diffuse neutron scattering with a small correlation length. The data are compared to the expected first-order phase transition of the n ≥ 4 component vector models.     

First evidence for direct CP violation

The double ratio R of the relative decay rates of the short- and long-lived neutral kaons into two charged and two neutral pions was measured to be 0.980±0.004±0.005. The deviation of R from the CP violation in the transition of the CP-odd K₂ into two pions with ϵ′/ϵ=(3.3 ± 1.1)×10⁻³.     

Experimental evidence for a high-pressure isostructural phase transition in osmium

We have measured the isothermal equation of state (EOS) of osmium to 75 GPa under hydrostatic conditions at room temperature using angle-dispersive x-ray diffraction. A least-squares fit of this data using a third-order Birch-Murnaghan EOS yields an isothermal bulk modulus K0=411+/-6 GPa, showing osmium is more compressible than diamond. Most importantly, we have documented an anomaly in the compressibility around 25 GPa associated with a discontinuity in the first pressure derivative of the c/a ratio. This discontinuity plausibly arises from the collapse of the small hole-ellipsoid in the Fermi surface near the L point.     

First order phase transition in the system of two coupled fields with different transition temperatures

It is shown that for the case of a strong field coupling in the system of two fields the low temperature phase may be stable in the fluctuation region of the high temperature phase.     

阻挫诱导的亚铁磁性Heisenberg系统中的量子相变

利用密度矩阵重整化群(DMRG)方法研究磁性阻挫对一种S=1/2准一维反铁磁自旋链但却具有亚铁磁性的Heisenberg系统基态的影响.计算了单个晶胞的基态能、自旋关联函数以及自旋能隙.研究表明这种Heisenberg自旋系统的基态随着阻挫α的增强将从磁有序相变化到自旋无序相，并且伴随着自旋能隙的出现，量子相变点为α≈0.412.同时线形链上格点间自旋长程关联值的计算结果表明在磁有序区间体系的磁有序性质随着α的增强而减弱，阻挫在0≤α<     

阻挫诱导的亚铁磁性Heisenberg系统中的量子相变

利用密度矩阵重整化群(DMRG)方法研究磁性阻挫对一种S=1/2准一维反铁磁自旋链但却具有亚铁磁性的Heisenberg系统基态的影响.计算了单个晶胞的基态能、自旋关联函数以及自旋能隙.研究表明这种Heisenberg自旋系统的基态随着阻挫α的增强将从磁有序相变化到自旋无序相,并且伴随着自旋能隙的出现,量子相变点为α≈0.412.同时线形链上格点间自旋长程关联值的计算结果表明在磁有序区间体系的磁有序性质随着α的增强而减弱,阻挫在0≤α< 关键词： 准一维反铁磁自旋链 亚铁磁性 密度矩阵重整化群 自旋能隙     

Spin-state transition in LaCoO3: direct neutron spectroscopic evidence of excited magnetic states

A gradual spin-state transition occurs in LaCoO3 around T approximately 80-120 K, whose detailed nature remains controversial. We studied this transition by means of inelastic neutron scattering and found that with increasing temperature an excitation at approximately 0.6 meV appears, whose intensity increases with temperature, following the bulk magnetization. Within a model including crystal-field interaction and spin-orbit coupling, we interpret this excitation as originating from a transition between thermally excited states located about 120 K above the ground state. We further discuss the nature of the magnetic excited state in terms of intermediate-spin (t(2g)(5)e(g)(1), S=1) versus high-spin (t(2g)(4)e(g)(2), S=2) states. Since the g factor obtained from the field dependence of the inelastic neutron scattering is g approximately 3, the second interpretation is definitely favored.     

The first experimental evidence of a field-induced magnetic phase transition in an S = 1 singlet ground state system

A magnetic phase transition to a long range ordered state is observed in Ni(C₅H₅NO)₆(ClO₄)₂ in external fields 26.4 kOe< H < 71.0 kOe applied parallel to the threefold axis and below temperatures of 0.80 K.     

First order magnetic transition in doped CeFe2 alloys: phase coexistence and metastability

First order ferromagnetic (FM) to antiferromagnetic (AFM) phase transition in doped CeFe2 alloys is studied with the micro-Hall probe technique. Clear visual evidence of magnetic phase coexistence on micrometer scales and the evolution of this phase coexistence as a function of temperature, magnetic field, and time across the first order FM-AFM transition is presented. Such phase coexistence and metastability arise as a natural consequence of an intrinsic disorder-influenced first order transition. The generality of these phenomena involving other classes of materials is discussed.     

Melt-crystal phase transition in a two-component system

The melt-crystal phase transition in a two-component system is described by a generalized Ornstein-Zernicke equation for one- and two-particle distribution functions. The jump in the density δn under melt crystallization is a small parameter. The desired distribution functions are found as δn power series. The two-particle distribution function for the melt along its crystallization line is chosen as a zeroth approximation. Institute of Applied Physics at the Irkutsk University. Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 2, pp. 54–61, February 2000.     

Order-disorder phase transition in a chaotic system

For soft-mode turbulence, which is essentially the spatiotemporal chaos caused by the nonlinear interaction between convective modes and Goldstone modes in electroconvection of homeotropic nematics, a type of order-disorder phase transition was revealed, in which a new order parameter was introduced as pattern ordering. We calculated the spatial correlation function and the anisotropy of the convective patterns as a 2D XY system because the convective wave vector could freely rotate in the homeotropic system. We found the hidden order in the chaotic patterns observed beyond the Lifshitz frequency f(L), and a transition from a disordered to a hidden ordered state occurred at the f(L) with the increase of the frequency of the applied voltages.     

On the magnetic phase transition in terbium ferrite-garnet

It is shown that anomalies on the magnetization curves of the samples of terbium ferrite-garnet (Tb₃Fe₅O₁₂) revealed by Tran Khanh Vien and Dormann [1] are due to the first order spin-reorientation phase transition in iron sublattices. This transition is satisfactorily described by the simple phenomenological theory taking into consideration only anisotropic interactions.     

Direct evidence for d-band involvement in the TiSe2 phase transition

We have investigated the Ti d-electronic states of stoichiometric TiSe₂ for k-vectors in the neighborhood of the L-point at temperatures above and below the critical temperature using angle-resolved photoemission. Strong changes observed in the spectra upon lowering the temperature definitely demostrate that the lattice-instability phase transition involves Ti d-electrons as required by an excitonic-insulator mechanism. The hypothesis that TiSe₂ at low temperatures is the first and only known example of an exitonic insulator, therefore, remains plausible after this crucial test.     

Experimental evidence of a phase transition in a closed turbulent flow

We experimentally study the susceptibility to symmetry breaking of a closed turbulent von Kármán swirling flow from Re=150 to Re?10?. We report a divergence of this susceptibility at an intermediate Reynolds number Re=Re(χ)?90,000 which gives experimental evidence that such a highly space and time fluctuating system can undergo a "phase transition." This transition is furthermore associated with a peak in the amplitude of fluctuations of the instantaneous flow symmetry corresponding to intermittencies between spontaneously symmetry breaking metastable states.     

First and second order non-equilibrium phase transition and evidence for non-extensive Tsallis statistics in Earth’s magnetosphere

In this paper strong evidence is provided for significant far from equilibrium phase transition processes in the Earth’s magnetosphere as revealed by the nonlinear analysis of in situ observations. These results constitute the solid base for the solution of the durable controversy about the chaotic or non-chaotic character of the magnetospheric dynamics. During the last two decades the concept of low dimensional chaos was supported by theoretical and experimental methods by our group in Thrace and others scientists, as an explicative paradigm of the magnetospheric dynamics including substorm processes. In parallel, the concept of self-organized criticality (SOC) and space-time intermittency was introduced as new and opposing to low dimensional chaos concepts for modeling the magnetospheric dynamics. Novel results concerning the nonlinear analysis of in situ space plasma data (magnetic-electric field, energetic particles and bulk plasma flow time series) obtained by the Geotail spacecraft presented in this paper for the first time reveal the following: (a) Coexistence of SOC and chaos states in the magnetospheric system and global phase transition from one state to the other during substorms. (b) Strong intermittent turbulent character of the magnetospheric system at the SOC or the low dimensional chaos states. (c) Clear indications for non-extensivity and q-Gaussian statistics during periods of low dimensional and chaotic dynamics of the magnetosphere. (d) Low dimensional and nonlinear space plasma dynamics in the day side magnetopause and bow shock dynamics. The dual character of the magnetospheric dynamics including low dimensional chaotic (coherent) and high dimensional turbulent states, as supported in this paper, is in agreement and verifies previous theoretical and experimental studies.     

Investigation of a magnetic phase transition in fcc iron-nickel alloys

A magnetic phase transition in carbon-doped (0.1 and 0.7 at. %) Fe₇₀Ni₃₀ Invar alloys was investigated by the method of depolarization of a transmitted neutron beam and by small-angle scattering of polarized neutrons. It is shown that for both alloys, two characteristic length scales of magnetic correlations coexist above T _c. Small-angle scattering by critical correlations with radius R _c is described well by the Ornstein-Zernike (OZ) expression. The longer-scale (second) correlations, whose size can be estimated from depolarization data, are not described by the OZ expression, and hypothetically can be modeled by a squared OZ expression, which in coordinate space corresponds to the relation 〈M(r)M(0)〉∝exp(−r/R _d), where R _d is the correlation length of the second scale. The temperature dependence of the correlation radius R _c was obtained: R _c ∝ ((T−T _c)/Tc)^−ν , where ν≈2/3 is the critical exponent for ferromagnets, over a wide temperature range up to T _c ^exp , at which the correlation radius becomes constant and equals its maximum value R _c(T _c)=R _c ^max . The maximum correlation radius established (R _c ^max =140 Å and 230 Å for the first and second alloys, respectively) characterizes the length-scale of the fluctuation for which the appearance of critical correlations first results in the formation of a ferromagnetic phase, and the phenomenon itself exhibits a “disruption” of the second-order phase transition at T=T _c ^exp , as a result of which a first-order transition arises. Temperature hysteresis was also detected in the measured polarization of the transmitted beam and intensity of small-angle neutron scattering in the alloy above T _c, confirming the character of this magnetic transition as a first-order transition close to a second-order transition. Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 112, 2134–2155 (December 1997)     

Ultrasonic attenuation near the phase transition for the magnetic field induced excitonic phase in bismuth

The fluctuation contribution to the ultrasonic attenuation above T_c is shown to have a log T form similar to the log T components in properties of Kondo systems. The recent results by Mase et al. show this behaviour in bismuth.