Refinement of hydrogen positions in Phase II of β-LiNH4SO4

The atomic positions and thermal parameters of the crystal structure for phase II of β-LiNH₄SO₄ are determined from single crystal neutron diffraction data at room temperature to refine N-H bond lengths for ammonium ions. The neutron data are collected using an E5 diffractometer in BENSC (HMI, Berlin, Germany). Atomic positions and thermal parameters are determined by the least-squares method up to R = 0.072 and wR = 0.057. It is shown that an ammonium ion polyhedron is the regular tetrahedron. The text was submitted by the authors in English.     

On isotropic states in α-LiNH4SO4 crystals

The spectral and baric dependences of the birefringence of α-LiNH₄SO₄ crystals are studied. It is found that the birefringence is rather sensitive to uniaxial compressions. A baric shift of the isotropic point to longer or shorter wavelengths depending on the uniaxial compression direction is observed and a generalized temperature-spectral-baric diagram of the isotropic state is plotted. A possibility of the appearance of a pseudoisotropic state under the action of uniaxial pressure σ _z or simultaneous pressures σ _x = σ _z is shown.     

Domain structure and phase transitions of LiKSO4:EPR of SO−4 centers

Analysis of the EPR of SO⁻₄ centers in LiKSO₄ crystals indicates that the SO⁻₄ centers are associated with local positive-ion vacancies. Twin-domains of the 〉110〈 types are observed to be temperature-dependent. The anomaly at 215 K on cooling is associated with a sudden growth of the twins and the anomaly at 190 K is associated with a p6₃ to p6₃P6,mc structural phase transition.     

Two new low-temperature phase transitions in the Li(NH4)1 − x Na x SO4 system

Dielectric measurements, X-ray diffraction and Raman scattering techniques have been used to investigate Li(NH₄)_0.99Na_0.01SO₄ (LASS1%) and Li(NH₄)_0.80Na_0.20SO₄ (LASS20%) crystals in the temperature range from 200 to 10?K. These are interesting systems because of the presence of hydrogen bonds and structural defects and because the mother crystal, LiNH₄SO₄, is ferroelectric at room temperature. From the analysis of the results we can conclude that the substitution of Na⁺ ions in the structure of LiNH₄SO₄, even at quantities as low as 1%, is sufficient to induce additional phase transitions to the LiNH₄SO₄ system. The new phase transitions are observed at 181 and 115?K for LASS1% and at 208 and 133?K for LASS20% and both are reversible.     

Thermal expansion anisotropy of β-TlInS2 crystals in the course of phase transitions

Basing on the thermal expansion studies performed for β-TlInS₂ crystals in the course of their phase transitions, we have found that the crystals aged for one year are composed from at least two polytypes, which undergo phase transitions at different temperatures. The detailed analysis of anisotropy of the thermal expansion demonstrates that all of the diagonal components of the thermal expansion tensor associated with the eigensystem have almost the same modules but differ by their signs. This leads to appearance of an elliptical conical surface of zero thermal expansion. The orientation of this surface does not depend on the temperature in the temperature interval under study. We have also found that the thermal expansion coefficients along the crystallographic a and b axes are close to zero.     

Are there phase transitions in information space?

The interplay between two basic quantities--quantum communication and information--is investigated. Quantum communication is an important resource for quantum states shared by two parties and is directly related to entanglement. Recently, the amount of local information that can be drawn from a state has been shown to be closely related to the nonlocal properties of the state. Here we consider both formation and extraction processes, and analyze informational resources as a function of quantum communication. The resulting diagrams in information space allow us to observe phaselike transitions when correlations become classical.     

Are there phase transitions in liquid metallic alloys?

Recently, resistivity measurements of some liquid metals and metallic alloys have been obtained using an electrode technique. A marked change of the slope of the resistivity versus temperature has been observed following the history of the alloy in the liquid state and the authors conclude that there are “structural transitions in the melt”. It is of interest to examine such effects and to try to understand their origin. In this work, the resistivities of several liquid metals and metallic alloys were measured as a function of temperature. Particular attention was given to the history of the alloy, including solidification and melting conditions. We also observed “anomalies”. Our experiments lead us to conclude that they must very probably be attributed to the release of gas or vapour bubbles in the liquid alloy at the first heating, resulting from the decomposition of compounds like oxides or hydroxides of the metals, but not from a phase transition in the liquid metallic state involving “breaking” Sn–Sn covalent bands.     

On phase transitions in Schlögl's second model

We study Schlögl's second model, characterized by chemical reactions $$\begin{array}{*{20}c} {2X\underset{{k_2 }}{\overset{{k_1 }}{\longleftrightarrow}}3X,} & {X\underset{{k_4 }}{\overset{{k_3 }}{\longleftrightarrow}}0,} \\ \end{array} $$ ind-dimensional space. The reactions are assumed to be local; local fluctuations are fully taken into account, and particle transport occurs via diffusion. In contrast to previous investigations, we find no phase transition whenk ₄≠0 andd<4. Fork ₄=0,k ₃≠0, and 1≦d<4, we find a second-order phase transition which is in the same universality class as the transition in Schlögl's first model. Only ford≧4 we do find the first-order transition found also by previous authors. These claims are supported by extensive Monte Carlo calculations for various realizations of this process on discrete space-time lattices.     

Magnetic phase transitions in PrMn2−xCrxGe2

The structural and magnetic properties of PrMn_2−xCr_xGe₂ (0⩽x⩽1.0) were studied by X-ray diffraction and magnetization measurements. The powder samples crystallize in the ThCr₂Si₂-type structure, and the lattice constants at room temperature show almost no variation as Cr substitutes Mn. The observed phase transitions are summarized in a proposed magnetic x−T phase diagram and compared with previous Moessbauer spectroscopy and neutron diffraction results for x=0.     

A review of: “Advances in phase transitions”

From specific heat, thermal expansion, and dielectric constant measurements between 150 and 300 K we have confirmed the low temperature phase transition in barium chloride dihydrate (BaCl₂.2H₂O) at 195 ± 1 K. This transition appears to be associated with the local ordering (or displacements) of the two water molecules in the crystal. A “pseudospin” type model is proposed to explain the transition mechanism.     

Structural phase transitions in ‘hcp’ C70 single-crystals

The thermal expansion of vapor-grownC ₇₀ single crystals ahs been investigated using high-resolution capacitance dilatometry from 5–380 K. Measurements were made both parallel and perpendicular to the hexagonalc-axis. Three first-order phase transitions which we associate with the consecutive disordering of theC ₇₀ molecules are observed upon heating at 280 K (long-axis spinning), 300 K (long-axis precession) and 355 K (quasi-free rotation), respectively. The highest-temperature transition exhibits a very large (50 K) thermal hysteresis. Powder and single-crystal X-ray diffraction show that the crystals are predominantly hexagonal-close-packed (HCP) with an idealc/a1.63 above 360 K andc/a1.84 at 295 K.     

New transitions in the β-decay of 36Ca

The β-decay of the T _z = - 2 nucleus ³⁶Ca was studied at the LISE3 magnetic spectrometer at GANIL. Two new proton-emitting states have been detected and the other nine known βp and βγ transitions have been remeasured with improved resolution. A simulation with the GEANT code has been applied to this experimental setup. A comparison with shell model calculations is given. Received: 19 September 2000 / Accepted: 28 February 2001     

Low-temperature phase transitions and dynamics of ammonium in (NH4)3H(SO4)2 and [(NH4)1−x Rbx]3H(SO4)2 crystals

The (NH₄)₃H(SO₄)₂ and [(NH₄)_0.82Rb_0.18]₃H(SO₄)₂ crystals are investigated by dielectric spectroscopy, inelastic incoherent neutron scattering (IINS), and neutron powder diffraction. A comparative analysis of the data obtained is given. It is shown that the phase transitions II ? III, III ? IV, IV ? V, and V ? VII in the (NH₄)₃H(SO₄)₂ crystal are accompanied by changes in the orientation ordering of the NH ₄ ⁺ ions. In the [(NH₄)_0.82Rb_0.18]₃H(SO₄)₂ crystal, these phase transitions are completely suppressed and the long-range order inherent in the II phase is retained over the entire temperature range covered (6–300 K). It is revealed that this crystal at the temperature T _g≈70 K undergoes a transition to the dipole glass phase, which is attended by “freezing” the orientation disordering of the ammonium ions.     

Phase transitions in low-dimensional ψ 4 systems

The phase transition in a planar array of weakly coupled Ginzburg–Landau chains with real order parameter is studied, using an original variant of the two-level approximation. The results are extended to the quantum phase transition in a chain of quantum double well oscillators, coupled with an elastic interaction, using the matrix transfer method.     

The “screening phase transitions” in the two-dimensional Coulomb gas

The Mayer series of a Coulomb gas with fixed ultraviolet cutoff is studied in two dimensions. In particular, we show the existence of infinitely many thresholdsT _n =(e ²/8k)(1-1/2n)^–1 k=Boltzmann's constant,e=electric charge,n=1, 2,..., which are conjectured to reflect a sequence of transitions from pure multipole phase (the Kosterlitz-Thouless region) to a plasma phase (the Debye screening region) via an infinite number of intermediate phases. Mathematically we prove that the Mayer series' coefficients of order up to 2n are finite if the temperatureT is <T _n. ForT<T all the coefficients are finite and the gas can be formally interpreted as a multipole gas with multipoles with finite activity.The first author was supported in part by NSF grant No. MCS-8108814 (A03).     

Weak “phase transitions” in asymptotic properties of lattice sums

Two classes ofn-dimensional lattice sums are shown to exhibit a weak form of a phase transition in their asymptotic properties. Both classes depend on two parameters such that the leading term in an asymptotic limit of one parameter is independent of the structure of the lattice in one domain of the second parameter and dependent on the structure in an adjacent domain, with a boundary point, or transition temperature, between the two domains.     

Field-induced spin-orientational phase transitions in Néel ferrimagnets. I

The breakdown of the aligned states of Néel ferrimagnets in an applied magnetic field is considered. The behaviour of isotropic two-and three-sublattice ferrimagnets is treated in the framework of the mean-field approximation. A phenomenological method also limited by the mean-field approximation is used to analyse the behaviour of the anisotropic ferrimagnet. Particular emphasis is placed on the vicinity of the compensation temperature. Approximate analytical expressions which are valid near the compensation temperature are given for the phase-boundary positions, typical magnetic fields, and temperature ranges of the phase diagrams.     

Grain boundary wetting phase transitions in peritectic copper—cobalt alloys

The transition from incomplete to complete grain boundary wetting in copper alloys with 2.2 and 4.9 wt % Co has been studied. These alloys with peritectic phase diagrams differ from previously studied systems with eutectic transformation by the fact that the melt layer separating grains from each other is not enriched, but is depleted by the second component (cobalt in this case). The fraction of completely wetted grain boundaries increases with temperature, as in eutectic systems, from zero at a temperature of 1098°C to ~80% at 1096°C. For symmetric twin boundaries, the temperature dependence of the contact angle with melt drops is constructed. As in the eutectic systems, the contact angle decreases with increasing temperature (although not to zero due to the extremely low energy of symmetric twin boundaries).     

The Mössbauer effect in the points of phase transitions

The temperature dependence of the intensity of the Mössbauer line and the shift of its centre on passing through the points of phase transitions was studied. Both quantities exhibit discontinuity at transitions of the first kind while only the shift of the line centre does so at transitions of the second kind. The possibility of using the Mössbauer effect for the exact localization or even classification of phase transitions is shown.     

Gamow-teller transitions in β-decay of 66 146 Dy80

The β-decay of¹⁴⁶Dy₈₀ was studied by γ-ray and conversion electron spectroscopy following on-line mass separation. 58 % of the β-decay proceeding to a group of levels close to 2 MeV excitation is attributed to GT-decay of (πh ₁₁ ^2/2 )₀₊ pairs populating (πh_11/2νh_9/2νj ₀ ^?2 )1⁺ states in¹⁴⁶Tb₈₁. The total decay strength is significantly higher than found in¹⁴⁸Dy₈₂ decay, which arises from GT-transitions involving the ν-holes.