Pressure controllable phase transition in MoTe2 by the interlayer band occupancy

High pressure can effectively control the phase transition of MoTe₂ in experiment, but the mechanism is still unclear. In this work, we show by first-principles calculations that the phase transition is suppressed and $1T^{\prime }$ phase becomes more stable under high pressure, which originates from the pressure-induced change of the interlayer band occupancies near the Fermi energy. Specifically, the interlayer states of $1T^{\prime }$ phase tend to be fully occupied under high pressure, while they keep partially occupied for the $T_d$ phase. The increase of the band occupancies makes the $1T^{\prime }$ phase more favorable in energy and prevents the structure changing from $1T^{\prime }$ to $T_d$ phase. Moreover, we also analyze the superconductivity under high pressure based on BCS theory by calculating the density of states and phonon spectra. Our results may shed some light on understanding the relationship between the interlayer band occupancy and crystal stability of MoTe₂ under high pressures.     

Order-to-order phase transition in alloys with face-centered superstructures

The possibility of a temperature phase transition from one superstructure in a binary alloy to a superstructure of another type is theoretically considered. A possible phase diagram for these transitions is constructed.Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh. Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 8, pp. 26–30, August, 1982.     

New Heusler alloys with a metamagnetostructural phase transition

Investigations of new ferromagnetic shape-memory Ni-Mn-Z Heusler alloys (Z = In, Sn, Sb) are reviewed. Experimental data are described and explained on the assumption that these alloys undergo a phase transition from the ferromagnetic to the antiferromagnetic state (metamagnetic transition). The results of theoretical studies of the phase diagrams of these alloys are considered with regard to the possible change in the character of magnetic ordering (from ferromagnetic to antiferromagnetic) and interaction of the structural martensitic transformation with the metamagnetic transition.     

Baryogenesis at the weak phase transition

The weak phase transition of the hot big bang can produce quarks, leptons and weak bosons which are out of thermal equilibrium. In a simple extension of the standard model it is shown that the reactions following top quark decays can generate the cosmological baryon asymmetry. The top quark mass must be close to 80 GeV and the Higgs boson must be lighter than 1 GeV. This baryogenesis mechanism can be directly tested at e⁺e⁻ and hadron collider by searching for spectacular events containing six or more bottom quarks and a violation of baryon number at the decay vertex of a long lived neutral particle.     

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)     

Localized states at the helicoidal phase transition

The appearence of a new type of localized states at the helicoidal transition is predicted. The order parameter decays with an oscillation in the vicinity of the defect provoking the localized transition. The cases of point, linear, and planar defects are considered, and the specific heat jumps are calculated. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 65, No. 10, 776–781 (25 May 1997) Published in English in the original Russian journal. Edited by Steve Torstveit.     

Martensitic phase transition due to soft phonon mode in β′ phase alloys

The soft phonon modes relating to the martensitic phase transition in the β′ alloys are analysed by group- theoretical methods. The characteristic of the transition in the O⁵_h type β′ alloy are different from that of the O¹_h type one.     

Critical bubbles and fluctuations at the electroweak phase transition

We discuss the critical bubbles of the electroweak phase transition using an effective high-temperature 3-dimensional action for the Higgs field ϕ. The separate integration of gauge and Goldstone boson degrees of freedom is conveniently described in the 't Hooft-Feynman covariant background gauge. The effective dimensionless gauge coupling g3 (T) z in the broken phase is well behaved throughout the phase transition. However, the behavior of the one-loop Z(ϕ) factors of the Higgs and gauge kinetic terms signalizes the breakdown of the derivative expansion and of the perturbative expansion for a range of small ϕ values increasing with the Higgs mass m_H Taking a functional S_z [ϕ] with constant Z(ϕ) = z instead of the full non-local effective action in some neighborhood of the saddle point we are calculating the critical bubbles for several temperatures. The fluctuation determinant is calculated to high accuracy using a variant of the heat kernel method. It gives a strong suppression of the transition rate compared to previous estimates.     

Elastic and photoelastic anomalies at the phase transition of chloranil

Brillouin scattering experiments on chloranil reveal important elastic and photoelastic anomalies associated to the displacive transition at 93 K. The kind of anomaly is characteristic of a quadratic coupling of the order parameter with the elastic strains; a maximum of this coupling is found for e₁.     

Direct experimental confirmation of the critical behaviour of antiphase domain boundaries at the second order phase transition of Al-Fe binary alloys

The present work reports, for the first time, a direct experimental observation of the critical phenomenon associated with the B2-A2 order-disorder transition of Al-Fe binary alloys. Transmission electron microscopy and energy dispersion spectroscopy are employed to span the morphological changes through the transition line from the ordered B2 phase to the disordered A2 phase. Dark field images of the microstructure around the transition line for samples aged at 973 and 1073 K for various times show an interface roughening for the {100} antiphase domain boundaries in body-centered cubic binary alloys having the B2 structure. This observation confirms theory about the instability of the second-order transition in such alloys. This behaviour occurs for compositions with Al-content slightly higher (by ∼4 at.% Al) than that of the critical point of the equilibrium order-disorder transition. In addition, roughness-induced wetting transition is also observed for alloys having compositions ranging from 1.3 to 1.5 at.% Al above the transition line. The interface roughening transition is thought to be unstable second-order while the wetting transition is suggested to be a stable first-order one.     

Atomic-scale phase coexistence and fluctuation at the quasi-one-dimensional metal-insulator transition

Scanning tunneling microscopy of a quasi-one-dimensional (1D) metal-insulator transition in an In nanowire array on the Si(111) surface reveals unprecedented details in the transition dynamics. The transition proceeds in microscopic first order, namely, through the domain-by-domain conversion at the nanoscale, from the metallic to the insulating phase or vice versa. The definition of domains and their effective transition temperatures (Tc) are strongly correlated with the distribution of defects. Below Tc, the condensation and the fluctuation of 1D charge density waves are observed within the isolated metallic domains, as well as at the domain boundaries. The appearance of such isolated condensates suggests a strong intrawire coupling: a manifestation of the 1D nature of the critical fluctuation, as well as the origin of the first-order transition.     

Reversible structural phase transition in Ni-Mn-Ga alloys in a magnetic field

In Ni_2+x Mn_1?x Ga shape-memory ferromagnetic alloys with coincident magnetic and structural phase transitions, a reversible structural field-induced phase transition was observed at constant temperature and pressure in magnetic fields of about 10 T. Computational results are in qualitative agreement with experiment.     

Universal scaling of the conductivity at the superfluid-insulator phase transition

The scaling of the conductivity at the superfluid-insulator quantum phase transition in two dimensions is studied by numerical simulations of the Bose-Hubbard model. In contrast to previous studies, we focus on properties of this model in the experimentally relevant thermodynamic limit at finite temperature T. We find clear evidence for deviations from omega k scaling of the conductivity towards omega k/T scaling at low Matsubara frequencies omega k. By careful analytic continuation using Padé approximants we show that this behavior carries over to the real frequency axis where the conductivity scales with omega/T at small frequencies and low temperatures. We estimate the universal dc conductivity to be sigma* = 0.45(5)Q2/h, distinct from previous estimates in the T = 0, omega/T > 1 limit.     

Distortion deformations in the B2-R phase transition in titanium nickel alloys

Based on x-ray analysis, we have calculated the lattice distortions in Ti-Ni-Me (Me=Rh, Co, Fe) alloys during the B2-R phase transition. We find that, during the transition, the deformation decreases as the concentration of the alloying component increases in Ti-Ni-Rh and Ti-Ni-Co. No such correlation is observed in the Ti-Ni-Fe alloys. Tomsk State Architecture-Construction Academy. V. D. Kuznetsov Siberian Physicotechnical Institute, Tomsk State University. Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 2, pp. 95–100, February, 1997.