Elasticity of the B2 phase and the effect of the B1–B2 phase transition on the elasticity of MgO

A study of the high-pressure anisotropy of MgO was conducted using first-principles calculations based on density functional theory within the generalized gradient approximations. The pressure dependence of the elastic stiffness coefficients and the anisotropy parameters, in both B1 and B2 phases, shows that for high-hydrostatic compression the easiest deformation is the shear along (100) plane and the the material's response to deformation and to shearing strains is quite the same. According to the calculations of the velocities of propagation of elastic waves, we deduced that MgO develop an elastic anisotropy, especially, in the B1 phase. We present the B2 phase elastic properties which are not already studied under high pressure.     

Quantum phase transition of the Jaynes-Cummings model

Herein, we propose an experimentally feasible scheme to show the quantum phase transition of the Jaynes-Cummings(JC) model by modulating the transition frequency of a two-level system in a quantum Rabi model with strong coupling. By tuning the modulation frequency and amplitude, the ratio of the effective coupling strength of the rotating terms to the effective cavity(atomic transition) frequency can enter the deep-strong coupling regime, while the counter-rotating terms can be neglected. Thus, ...     

Influence of shifted phase value on the output spectra of DFB lasers with phase shifter

DFB lasers with π/2 phase shifter can run stably on single mode and providevery high side mode suppression ratio (MSR). This attractive feature may be degraded ifphase shift deviates from π/2. In this paper, we analyze theoretically how the output spectraand side mode suppression ratio are influenced by the deviation value of phase shift from π/2.     

Dynamics of the normal–superconductor phase transition and the puzzle of the Meissner effect

The analysis of Pippard (1950) for the growth of the normal phase into the superconducting phase in the presence of a magnetic field H>H_c$H>H_c$ is applied in reverse to the case H<H_c$H<H_c$ (H_c=$H_c=$ critical magnetic field). We carry out the analysis both for a planar and a cylindrical geometry. As the superconducting phase grows into the normal phase, a supercurrent is generated at the superconductor–normal phase boundary that flows in direction opposite to the Faraday electric field resulting from the moving phase boundary. This supercurrent motion is in direction opposite to what is dictated by the Lorentz force on the current carriers, and in addition requires that mechanical momentum of opposite sign be transferred to the system as a whole to ensure momentum conservation. In the cylindrical geometry case, a macroscopic torque of unknown origin acts on the body as a whole as the magnetic field is expelled. We argue that the conventional BCS-London theory of superconductivity cannot explain these facts, and that as a consequence the Meissner effect remains unexplained within the conventional theory of superconductivity. We propose that the Meissner effect can only be understood by assuming that there is motion of charge in direction perpendicular to the normal–superconductor phase boundary and point out that the unconventional theory of hole superconductivity describes this physics.     

The meaning of the terms “phase” and “phase transition”

Various meanings of the terms phase and phase transition encountered in scientific literature are discussed. These terms supplement each other and cover only together all the macroscopic situations which are now denoted by this term.Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 8, pp. 67–71, August, 1988.     

What is the origin of chirality in the cholesteric phase of virus suspensions?

We report a study of the cholesteric phase in monodisperse suspensions of the rodlike virus fd sterically stabilized with the polymer polyethylene glycol (PEG). After coating the virus with neutral polymers, the phase diagram and nematic order parameter of the fd-PEG system then become independent of ionic strength. Surprisingly, the fd-PEG suspensions not only continue to exhibit a cholesteric phase, which means that the grafted polymer does not screen all chiral interactions between rods, but paradoxically the cholesteric pitch of this sterically stabilized fd-PEG system varies with ionic strength. Furthermore, we observe that the cholesteric pitch decreases with increasing viral contour length, in contrast to theories which predict the opposite trend. Different models of the origin of chirality in colloidal liquid crystals are discussed.     

The contribution of order to the phase stability of β-Cu-Zn-Al

We report the lower stability temperatures, T(β), of the body centred cubic (bcc) β phase for several alloys along the line of compositions Cu(0.76-0.5x)-Zn(x)-Al(0.24-0.5x), corresponding to a constant electron to atom ratio e/a = 1.48. The results have been obtained by means of differential scanning calorimetry measurements at various heating rates. The influence of atomic ordering on the stability of the bcc structure was evaluated using a mixed approach involving Monte Carlo simulations and the cluster variation method. It was found that the chemical short- and long-range ordering contributes to the free energy of the alloy by an amount of around 200k(B).     

X-ray studies of the smectic B phase of the 4-bromobenzylidene-4′-alkoxyanilines

The results of X-ray studies of the nine members (4?÷?12) of the 4-bromobenzylidene-4′-alkyloxyaniline homologous series (nBBAA) in smectic B (SmB) and smectic A (SmA) phases are presented. Interestingly, no SmC phase was identified. The thickness of smectic layers in the SmA and SmB phases was estimated showing unexpectedly that in SmA it is bigger than in the SmB. For the SmB phase, orthorhombic unit cell parameters were determined as a function of temperature. The obtained data are discussed in relation to rotational dynamics.     

The pressure-induced phase transition of the solid β–HMX

The structural, vibrational and thermodynamic properties of β-octahydro-1,3,5,7-tetranitro-1,3,5,7-tetrazocine (β–HMX) crystal have been studied using the isothermal-isobaric molecular dynamics (NPT-MD) simulations. The variations of cell volume, lattice constants and molecular geometry of solid β–HMX are presented and discussed at different pressure and temperature. It was found that the N–N bond is significantly lengthened with increasing temperature, which suggests that it is relevant to the initial decomposition. An abrupt change at 27 Gpa for the volume and internal geometrical parameters was observed. This is in good accord with the experimental observation that there is a phase transition at 27 GPa, which is clearly due to conformational change, not chemical reaction. The vibrational frequencies at ambient conditions agree well with experimental results, and the pressure/temperature-induced frequency shifts of these modes are discussed. Frequency discontinuity was also observed at pressure when the phase transition occurred. The Grüneisen parameter was obtained using the vibrational frequency.     

Generation of phase nuclei by solitons of the new “undulator” type in martensitic phase transitions of crystalline materials

The microdynamics of large-amplitude nonlinear lattice vibrations of plutonium and uranium materials has been investigated at high reactor temperatures in the ranges of martensitic phase transitions. Topologically new large-amplitude solitons of the “undulator” type have been revealed. Transverse and longitudinal “undulator” solitons in crystals with hexagonal and cubic symmetry, depending on the direction of motion, have different kinematic and amplitude characteristics, which differ from the characteristics of the previously known solitons. The transverse “undulator” solitons, like electrons in undulators, are observed with periodic atomic displacements orthogonal to the direction of soliton propagation. The longitudinal “undulator” solitons with displacements of atoms in the direction of soliton propagation are characterized by periodic delays with two-step velocities on the trajectory in a certain analogy with two-period engineering undulator devices. It has been shown that, at high energies, such “undulator” solitons of two types generate nuclei of a new phase in early stages of structural phase transitions.     

Analysis of the properties of the molecular–cluster xenon mixture in the mesoscopic phase transition region

We report on the results of calculation of the concentrations of cluster subcomponents in a molecular–cluster xenon mixture at temperatures and pressures at which the gas experiences a mesoscopic phase transition. The existence of such a transition follows from singularities of the temperature dependence of viscosity, from the behavior of the cluster thermodiffusion coefficient, and from the features of the distributions of cluster subcomponents in the centrifuge. The mesoscopic phase transition is manifested in the intermediate position of the molecular–cluster mixture between the gas and the liquid judging from its properties in the transition region.     

Influence of pressure on the solid state phase transformation of Cu-Al-Bi alloy

The solid state phase transformation of Cu-Al-Bi alloy under high pressure was investigated by x-ray diffraction, energy dispersive spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy. Experimental results show that the initial crystalline phase in the Cu-Al-Bi alloy annealed at 750℃ under the pressures in the range of 0-6 GPa is α-Cu solid solution (named as α-Cu phase below), and high pressure has a great influence on the crystallisation process of the Cu-Al-Bi alloy. The grain size of the α-Cu phase decreases with increasing pressure as the pressure is below about 3 GPa, and then increases (P 3 GPa). The mechanism for the effects of high pressure on the crystallisation process of the alloy has been discussed.     

Fluctuation shift of the nematic–isotropic phase transition temperature

A macroscopic counterpart to the microscopic mechanism of the straightening dimer mesogens conformations, proposed recently by S.M. Saliti, M.G. Tamba, S.N. Sprunt, C. Welch, G.H. Mehl, A. Jakli, and J.T. Gleeson [Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, 217801 (2016)] to explain their experimental observation of the unprecedentedly large shift of the nematic–isotropic transition temperature is discussed. The proposed interpretation is based on singular longitudinal fluctuations of the nematic order parameter. Since these fluctuations are governed by the Goldstone director fluctuations, they exist only in the nematic state. External magnetic field suppresses the singular longitudinal fluctuations of the order parameter (similarly as is the case for the transverse director fluctuations, although with a different scaling over the magnetic field). The reduction of the fluctuations changes the equilibrium value of the magnitude of the order parameter in the nematic state. Therefore, it leads to additional (with respect to the mean field contribution) fluctuation shift of the nematic–isotropic transition temperature. Our mechanism works for any nematic liquid crystals, however the magnitude of the fluctuation shift increases with decrease in the Frank elastic moduli. Since some of these moduli supposed to be anomalously small for so-called bent-core or dimer nematic liquid crystals, just these liquid crystals are promising candidates for the observation of the predicted fluctuation shift of the phase transition temperature.     

Simulation of the (p,T) phase diagram of the temperature-driven metamagnet α-FeRh

We perform finite-pressure Monte Carlo simulations of an effective spin-analogous model with coupled magnetic and lattice degrees of freedom, which has previously been proposed in order to explain the anomalous temperature driven metamagnetic phase transition in α-FeRh. The results are in reasonable agreement with the experimental (p,?T) phase diagram. The critical behaviour of the system along the transition lines is analysed in detail.     

Extraction of the CKM phase γ from the charmless two-body B meson decays

Using all experimentally measured charmless B → PP, PV decay modes, where P(V) denotes a light pseudoscalar(vector) meson, we extract the CKM angle γ by a global fit. All hadronic parameters are determined from the experimental data, such that the approach is least model dependent. The contributions of the various decay modes are classified by the topological weak Feynman diagram amplitudes, which are determined by the global fit.To improve the precision of the approach, we consider the flavor SU(3) breaking effects of the topological diagram amplitudes of the decay modes by including the form factors and decay constants. The fit result for the CKM angle γ is( 69.8 ± 2.1 ± 0.9)°. It is consistent with the current world average values but has a smaller uncertainty.     

Benchmark study of the SF-MI phase transition of the Bose–Hubbard model with density-induced tunneling

The Bose–Hubbard model (BHM) is a standard model which describes the quantum behavior of ultracold bosons in optical lattice. When tuning the model parameters, a quantum phase transition from superfluid (SF) phase to Mott insulating (MI) phase emerges. However, an extra tunneling process – the density-induced tunneling – is usually ignored in the standard BHM. Using process-chain method, we give a thorough study of the phase diagram of the BHM with density-induced tunneling in different particle density regions and spatial dimensions. We find the density-induced tunneling process can affect the SF-MI phase boundary dramatically, by suppressing the MI region and tune the tip of the phase boundary to lower chemical potential. Our unbiased numerical study gives benchmark results of the phase diagram of the BHM with density-induced tunneling.     

Calculation of the structure properties and P–T phase diagram of hafnium

Abstract

The full-potential linear muffin-tin orbitals (FP-LMTO) method is used to calculate the total energy and equilibrium lattice properties for the observed phases of Hf. The temperature and pressure dependences of the Gibbs energy are found for these structures within the Debye model. A quantitative agreement with the experimental points of the P-T phase diagram is obtained.