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Stimulated Brillouin scattering in ferroelectric triglycine sulphate crystals and Rochelle salt exhibiting second-order phase transition, measuring scattering threshold as temperature function
The ordering in a viscous, nematic, liquid crystal was studied using vanadyl acetyl acetonate and several nitroxides as paramagnetic probes. The ordering curve for VAAC at both K-band and X-band shows a slope discontinuity at a reduced temperature of 0.85. This discontinuity is caused by the tumbling time of the VAAC becoming comparable with the hyperfine splitting. The slope discontinuity is not present in the ordering curves of the nitroxides. The results are taken as evidence counter to the presence of a second-order phase transition.
Perovskite type oxides were considered for use as oxygen reduction and generation electrocatalysts in alkaline electrolytes. Perovskite stability and electrocatalytic activity are studied along with possible relationships of the latter with the bulk solid state properties. A series of compounds of the type LaFe(x)Ni1(-x)O3 was used as a model system to gain information on the possible relationships between surface catalytic activity and bulk structure. Hydrogen peroxide decomposition rate constants were measured for these compounds. Ex situ Mossbauer effect spectroscopy (MES), and magnetic susceptibility measurements were used to study the solid state properties. X ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was used to examine the surface. MES has indicated the presence of a paramagnetic to magnetically ordered phase transition for values of x between 0.4 and 0.5. A correlation was found between the values of the MES isomer shift and the catalytic activity for peroxide decomposition. Thus, the catalytic activity can be correlated to the d-electron density for the transition metal cations.
The formation of nontopological solitons in a second-order phase transition in the early universe is discussed. Ratios of dimensionless coupling constants in the Lagrangian determine their abundance and mass. For a large range of parameters, nontopological solitons can be cosmologically significant, contributing a significant fraction of the present mass density of the universe.
Perovskite type oxides were considered for use as oxygen reduction and generation electrocatalysts in alkaline electrolytes. Perovskite stability and electrocatalytic activity are studied along with possible relationships of the latter with the bulk solid state properties. A series of compounds of the type LaFe(x)Ni1(-x)O3 was used as a model system to gain information on the possible relationships between surface catalytic activity and bulk structure. Hydrogen peroxide decomposition rate constants were measured for these compounds. Ex situ Mossbauer effect spectroscopy (MES), and magnetic susceptibility measurements were used to study the solid state properties. X ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was used to examine the surface. MES has indicated the presence of a paramagnetic to magnetically ordered phase transition for values of x between 0.4 and 0.5. A correlation was found between the values of the MES isomer shift and the catalytic activity for peroxide decomposition. Thus, the catalytic activity can be correlated to the d-electron density for the transition metal cations.
Unlike droplet nucleation near a liquid-gas critical point, the decay of metastable phases in crystalline materials is strongly affected by the presence of long-range forces. Field quench experiments performed on the ferroelectric barium titanate indicate that nucleation in this material is markedly different from that observed in liquids. In this paper, a theory for nucleation at a first-order phase transition in which the mediating forces are long range is presented. It is found that the long-range force induces cooperative nucleation and growth processes, and that this feedback mechanism produces a well-defined delay time with a sharp onset in the transformation to the stable phase. Closed-form expressions for the characteristic onset time and width of the transition are developed, in good agreement with numerical and experimental results.
The possibility that both the formation of nontopological solitons in a primordial second-order phase transition and binary systems of soliton stars could generate a stochastic gravitational-wave background is examined. The present contribution of gravitational radiation to the energy density of the universe from these processes is estimated for a number of different models. The detectability of such contributions from the timing measurements of the millisecond pulsar and spaceborne laser interferometry is briefly discussed and compared to other cosmological and local sources of background gravitational waves.
The production of topological defects, especially cosmic strings, in extended inflation models was considered. In extended inflation, the Universe passes through a first-order phase transition via bubble percolation, which naturally allows defects to form at the end of inflation. The correlation length, which determines the number density of the defects, is related to the mean size of bubbles when they collide. This mechanism allows a natural combination of inflation and large scale structure via cosmic strings.
The possibility is considered that higher dimensional theories may, upon reduction to four dimensions, allow extended inflation to occur. Two separate models are analayzed. One is a very simple toy model consisting of higher dimensional gravity coupled to a scalar field whose potential allows for a first-order phase transition. The other is a more sophisticated model incorporating the effects of non-trivial field configurations (monopole, Casimir, and fermion bilinear condensate effects) that yield a non-trivial potential for the radius of the internal space. It was found that extended inflation does not occur in these models. It was also found that the bubble nucleation rate in these theories is time dependent unlike the case in the original version of extended inflation.
An overview is presented of the microgravity fluid physics program at Lewis Research Center. One of the main reasons for conducting low gravity research in fluid physics is to study phenomena such as surface tension, interfacial contact angles, and diffusion independent of such gravitationally induced effects as buoyant convection. Fluid physics is at the heart of many space-based technologies including power systems, thermal control systems, and life support systems. Fundamental understanding of fluid physics is a key ingredient to successful space systems design. In addition to describing ground-based and space-based low-gravity facilities, selected experiments are presented which highlight Lewis work in fluid physics. These experiments can be categorized into five theme areas which summarize the work being conducted at Lewis for OSSA: (1) isothermal/iso-solutal capillary phenomena; (2) capillary phenomena with thermal/solutal gradients; (3) thermal-solutal convection; (4) first- and second-order phase transitions in a static fluid; and (5) multiphase flow.
The modern theory of second order phase transitions is very successful in calculating the critical exponents as an asymptotic expansion in powers of epsilon = 4 - D, the deviation of D = 3, the spatial dimension of the actual physical system from that of the abstract four-dimensional reference model. This remarkable mathematical 'tour de force' leaves unanswered, however, many fundamental questions concerning the exact nature of how the fluctuations interact. I discuss here some experiments which would help to further our understanding of the equilibrium critical properties. Especially promising would be a measurement of the temperature dependence of the turbidity very close to the critical point. This has the promise of determining the small and elusive but fundamentally important anomalous dimension exponent eta. I also review various ways of measuring the critical transport coefficients and point out some cases where ground based experiments may usefully supplement flight experiments.
In this work, we describe the zero-temperature phase diagram of a model of a two-dimensional square-lattice array of neutral atoms, excited into Rydberg states and interacting via strong van der Waals interactions. Using the density-matrix renormalization group algorithm, we map out the phase diagram and obtain a rich variety of phases featuring complex density wave orderings, upon varying lattice spacing and laser detuning. While some of these phases result from the classical optimization of the van der Waals energy, we also find intrinsically quantum-ordered phases stabilized by quantum fluctuations. These phases are surrounded by novel quantum phase transitions, which we analyze by finite-size scaling numerics and Landau theories. Our work highlights Rydberg quantum simulators in higher dimensions as promising platforms to realize exotic many-body phenomena.
Synthetic-dimension platforms offer unique pathways for engineering quantum matter. We compute the phase diagram of a many-body system of ultracold atoms (or polar molecules) with a set of Rydberg states (or rotational states) as a synthetic dimension, where the particles are arranged in real space in optical microtrap arrays and interact via dipole-dipole exchange interaction. Using mean-field theory, we find three ordered phases—two are localized in the synthetic dimension, predicted as zero-temperature ground states, and one is a delocalized phase. We characterize them by identifying the spontaneously broken discrete symmetries of the Hamiltonian. We also compute the phase diagram as a function of temperature and interaction strength for both signs of the interaction. For system sizes with more than six synthetic sites and attractive interactions, we find that the thermal phase transitions can be first or second order, which leads to a tricritical point on the phase boundary. Furthermore, by examining the dependence of the tricritical point and other special points of the phase boundary on the synthetic dimension size, we shed light on the physics for thermodynamically large synthetic dimension.
Here, we obtain the superfluid transition temperature of equal Rashba-Dresselhaus spin-orbit- and Rabi-coupled Fermi superfluids, from the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) to Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) regimes in three dimensions for tunable s-wave interactions. In the presence of Rabi coupling, we find that spin-orbit coupling enhances (reduces) the critical temperature in the BEC (BCS) limit. For fixed interactions, we show that spin-orbit coupling can convert a first-order (discontinuous) phase transition into a second-order (continuous) phase transition, as a function of Rabi coupling. We derive the Ginzburg-Landau free energy to sixth power in the superfluid order parameter to describe both continuous and discontinuous phase transitions as a function of spin-orbit and Rabi couplings. Lastly, we develop a time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau fluctuation theory for an arbitrary mixture of Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit couplings at any interaction strength.
Quantum systems evolving unitarily and subject to quantum measurements exhibit various types of non-equilibrium phase transitions, arising from the competition between unitary evolution and measurements. Dissipative phase transitions in steady states of time-independent Liouvillians and measurement induced phase transitions at the level of quantum trajectories are two primary examples of such transitions. Investigating a many-body spin system subject to periodic resetting measurements, we argue that many-body dissipative Floquet dynamics provides a natural framework to analyze both types of transitions. We show that a dissipative phase transition between a ferromagnetic ordered phase and a paramagnetic disordered phase emerges for long-range systems as a function of measurement probabilities. A measurement induced transition of the entanglement entropy between volume law scaling and sub-volume law scaling is also present, and is distinct from the ordering transition. The two phases correspond to an error-correcting and a quantum-Zeno regimes, respectively. The ferromagnetic phase is lost for short range interactions, while the volume law phase of the entanglement is enhanced. An analysis of multifractal properties of wave function in Hilbert space provides a common perspective on both types of transitions in the system. Our findings are immediately relevant to trapped ion experiments, for which we detail a blueprint proposal based on currently available platforms.
The combined effect of alloying and heat treatment on the order-disorder transition in TiAl of stoichiometric composition was investigated. It is concluded from the data obtained that the TiAl 1 to TiAl 2 transition is a phase transition of the second kind. A phase transition was observed in TiAl of equiatomic composition in the 450-550 C temperature range. The introduction of niobium into the ordered compound TiAl of stoichiometric composition, instead of titanium or aluminum atoms, leads to partial softening. In this case, the effect of niobium atoms on softening of the alloys was greater when the niobium was introduced in place of aluminum atoms.
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