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At least 883 records · Page 49

Transverse fields to tune an Ising-nematic quantum phase transition

Significance Many interesting materials, including various high-temperature superconductors, exhibit a low-temperature “electron nematic” phase in which the electronic properties spontaneously break the rotational symmetry of the crystal. A nematic quantum critical point (QCP) marks the zero-temperature phase transition from a nematic ground state to a symmetric state as a function of a macroscopic nonthermal parameter. Here, we examine appropriate general means to tune Ising nematic systems to a QCP and in particular show that shear strain is a powerful tuning parameter. Moreover, we identify 4f ferroquadrupolar order as a realization of Ising nematic order and argue that it provides a promising platform for fundamental studies of metallic QCPs in the laboratory.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Phase transitions and hydrogen bonding in deuterated calcium hydroxide: High-pressure and high-temperature neutron diffraction measurements

In situ neutron diffraction measurements combined with the pulsed neutron source at the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex (J-PARC) were conducted on high-pressure polymorphs of deuterated portlandite (Ca(OD){sub 2}) using a Paris–Edinburgh cell and a multi-anvil press. The atomic positions including hydrogen for the unquenchable high-pressure phase at room temperature (phase II′) were first clarified. The bent hydrogen bonds under high pressure were consistent with results from Raman spectroscopy. The structure of the high-pressure and high-temperature phase (Phase II) was concordant with that observed previously by another group for a recovered sample. The observations elucidate the phase transition mechanism among the polymorphs, which involves the sliding of CaO polyhedral layers, position modulations of Ca atoms, and recombination of Ca–O bonds accompanied by the reorientation of hydrogen to form more stable hydrogen bonds. - Graphical abstract: Crystal structures of high-pressure polymorphs of Ca(OD){sub 2}, (a) at room temperature (phase II′) and (b) at high temperature (phase II), were obtained from in situ neutron diffraction measurements. - Highlights: • We measured in situ neutron diffraction of high-pressure polymorphs of Ca(OD){sub 2}. • Hydrogen positions of the high-pressure phase are first determined. • The obtained hydrogen bonds reasonably explain Raman peaks of OH stretching modes. • A phase transition mechanism among the polymorphs is proposed.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Pressure induced structural phase transition in IB transition metal nitrides compounds

Transition metal mononitrides are known as refractory compounds, and they have, relatively, high hardness, brittleness, melting point, and superconducting transition temperature, and they also have interesting optical, electronic, catalytic, and magnetic properties. Evolution of structural properties would be an important step towards realizing the potential technological scenario of this material of class. In the present study, an effective interionic interaction potential (EIOP) is developed to investigate the pressure induced phase transitions in IB transition metal nitrides TMN [TM = Cu, Ag, and Au] compounds. The long range Coulomb, van der Waals (vdW) interaction and the short-range repulsive interaction upto second-neighbor ions within the Hafemeister and Flygare approach with modified ionic charge are properly incorporated in the EIOP. The vdW coefficients are computed following the Slater-Kirkwood variational method, as both the ions are polarizable. The estimated value of the phase transition pressure (Pt) and the magnitude of the discontinuity in volume at the transition pressure are consistent as compared to the reported data.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Mechanochemical α to β phase transition of U 3 O 8

Recognized as the most stable phase of uranium oxide, α-U 3 O 8 is widely used throughout the nuclear fuel cycle for safe storage and transportation. There is, however, a lack of understanding of the thermodynamic relationship between α-U 3 O 8 and its polymorph, β-U 3 O 8 . This research contributes new knowledge regarding the kinetics and mechanism of a previously described mechanochemical phase transition between the α- and β-U 3 O 8 polymorphs to improve the understanding of their thermodynamic relationship. In this work, tumble milling of α-U 3 O 8 using different milling media shows an ingrowth of the β-phase over time, with an observed correlation between media density, percent conversion and lattice strain. Anisotropic peak broadening observed within collected X-ray diffraction powder patterns suggests the preservation of uranium polyhedral layered sheets throughout the milling process. Preservation of the sheets implies a shear-induced slip mechanism occurring through in-plane shifting of uranium polyhedra along lattice planes perpendicular to the polyhedral sheets.

Roach, Jordan M. [Oak Ridge National Laboratory (O↗

Phase Transition and Polymorphic Behavior of Binary Systems Containing Fatty Alcohols and Peanut Oil

This study reports a detailed characterization of the phase transition behavior and polymorphism of fatty alcohols with different chain lengths in peanut oil. Upon crystallization, fatty alcohols nucleated into rotator phases, which then transformed into well-defined crystal polymorphs. At concentrations greater than 30%, fatty alcohol crystals were in the monoclinic γ-form with a lamellar thickness that decreased as the length of the carbon chain of the fatty alcohols decreased. At concentrations lower than 30%, on the other hand, fatty alcohol crystals formed an orthorhombic β'-form. In this case, two main crystal families with lamellar thicknesses were detected. In particular, the thicker family range was from 5.95 to 4.96 nm moving from 1-docosanol to 1-hexadecanol while the thinner family range was from 4.98 to 3.68 nm. The thicker crystal population progressively decreased, while the thinner crystal population increased, suggesting an interconversion between these species. Here, the kinetics of these changes increased crystallizing the systems at 20 °C. Ultrasmall-angle X-ray scattering was used to characterize nanoscale structure and mesoscale crystal aggregation. It was found that crystal aggregates were characterized by a diffuse surface with crystallites in the range of 125–765 nm and a mass fractal dimension for crystals aggregation of 2.26–2.7.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Phase transition dynamics in one-dimensional halide perovskite crystals

Triiodide perovskites CsPbI 3 , CsSnI 3 , and FAPbI 3 (where FA is formamidinium) are highly promising materials for a range of optoelectronic applications in energy conversion. However, they are thermodynamically unstable at room temperature, preferring to form low-temperature (low-T) non-perovskite phases with one-dimensional anisotropic crystal structures. While such thermodynamic behavior represents a major obstacle toward realizing high-performance devices based on their high-temperature (high-T) perovskite phases, the underlying phase transition dynamics are still not well understood. In this work, we use in situ optical micro-spectroscopy to quantitatively study the transition from the low-T to high-T phases in individual CsSnI 3 and FAPbI 3 nanowires. We reveal a large blueshift in the photoluminescence (PL) peak (~38 meV) at the low-T/high-T two-phase interface of partially transitioned FAPbI 3 wire, which may result from the lattice distortion at the phase boundary. Compared to the experimentally derived activation energy of CsSnI 3 (~1.93 eV), the activation energy of FAPbI 3 is relatively small (~0.84 eV), indicating a lower kinetic energy barrier when transitioning from a face-sharing octahedral configuration to a corner-sharing one. Further, the phase propagation rate in CsSnI 3 is observed to be relatively high, which may be attributed to a high concentration of Sn vacancies. Our results could not only facilitate a deeper understanding of phase transition dynamics in halide perovskites with anisotropic crystal structures, but also enable controllable manipulation of optoelectronic properties via local phase engineering.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Shock wave produced by hadron-quark phase transition in neutron star

In this work we present a schematic description of the detonation wave in hadronic matter inside a neutron star core. We have used a simplified two shells model where the inner shell medium is initially composed of a small lump of strange quark matter surrounded by a large outer shell composed of hadronic matter. We have utilized an equation of state (EOS) based on Relativistic Mean Field Theory with the parameter set NL3 to describe the nuclear and subnuclear phases. We use the MIT bag model to describe the strange quark matter. The hadron-quark phase transition actually induces highly non equilibrium modes, which may become a detonation process (faster) or a burning process (slower). The main purpose of the work is to study the formation of a remnant quark star and the possibility of mass ejection caused by the hadron-quark phase transition. We have found that the total amount of ejected mass is dependant of the bag constant utilized in the strange matter description.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Effect of porous morphology on phase transition in vanadium dioxide thin films

Vanadium oxide (VO{sub 2}) thin films were prepared on Si (100) substrates by direct current magnetron sputtering at room temperature, and then, postannealing was conducted at 450 °C for 2 h in vacuum. Structural characterizations demonstrated that the thin films exhibited porous morphology upon thermal annealing and the porosity and pore size depended on the oxygen flow rate in the process of film fabrication. Raman spectra were measured in the temperature range of 303–343 K, and resistance measurement was conducted in the temperature range of 293–363 K, to study the influence of porous morphology on the phase transition in VO{sub 2} thin films. It was illustrated that the porous morphology could provide a free space to release the stress induced in the monoclinic-to-tetragonal phase transition of VO{sub 2}, and lower the transition temperature to a certain degree.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

The gabbro-eclogite phase transition and the elevation of mountain belts on Venus

Among the four mountain belts surrounding Lakshmi Planum, Maxwell Montes is the highest and stands up to 11 km above the mean planetary radius and 7 km above Lakshmi Planum. The bulk composition and radioactive heat production of the crust on Venus, where measured, are similar to those of terrestrial tholeiitic basalt. Because the thickness of the low-density crust may be limited by the gabbro-garnet granulite-eclogite phase transitions, the 7-11 km maximum elevation of Maxwell Montes is difficult to understand except in the unlikely situation that the crust contains a large volume of magma. A possible explanation is that the base of the crust is not in phase equilibrium. It has been suggested that under completely dry conditions, the gabbro-eclogite phase transition takes place by solid-state diffusion and may require a geologically significant time to run to completion. Solid-state diffusion is a strongly temperature-dependent process. In this paper we solve the thermal evolution of the mountain belt to attempt to constrain the depth of the gabbro-eclogite transition and thus to assess this hypothesis quantitatively. The one-dimensional heat equation is solved numerically by a finite difference approximation. The deformation of the horizontally shortening crustal and mantle portions of the thermal boundary layer is assumed to occur by pure shear, and therefore the vertical velocity is given by the product of the horizontal strain rate and depth.

Namiki, Noriyuki↗

Coupling of organic cation and inorganic lattice in methylammonium lead halide perovskites: Insights into a pressure-induced isostructural phase transition

Organic-inorganic hybrid metal-halide perovskite (OIHP) materials provide a tunable platform for engineering their optoelectronic properties. Although several high-pressure studies have been conducted from the OIHP family of single crystals and films, the exact nature of the dynamic coupling of the CH 3 NH 3 (MA) cation with the octahedral lattice framework and the mechanisms responsible for the structural phase transformation under pressure are not well captured. By combined photoluminescence (PL), synchrotron-based x-ray diffraction, and Raman-scattering studies as a function of pressure from methylammonium lead bromide (MAPbBr 3 ), we shed light on an isostructural phase transition due to the coupling of the MA cation and the PbBr 6 lattice through hydrogen bonding. The sharp discontinuities at ~ 1 GPa and ~ 3 GPa in the PL peak positions correlate with the structural changes observed in high-pressure XRD and Raman-scattering studies. The electronic band edge as a function of pressure is calculated within density-functional theory. The PL peak position, intensity and width of the excitonic peak show significant changes at 2 GPa, which corroborate the changes observed in high-pressure Raman-scattering studies. The frequencies of the lattice modes and the C-H/N-H bending and stretching modes of the MA cation show anomalous changes and other nuances at 2 GPa. The suppression of rotational and orientational disorder of the organic moiety is initiated at 2 GPa and the ordering is completed by 3.0 GPa, leading to an order-disorder type cubic II (Im$\overline{3}$) to orthorhombic ( Pnma ) phase transition. Along with the revelation of an isostructural transformation at 2 GPa, this paper highlights the impact of molecular vibrations on the electronic properties of MAPbBr 3 under pressure.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Correlation of infrared spectra and phase transitions in annealed proton-exchanged MgO doped LiNbO{sub 3}

Infrared spectra of OH{sup −} groups in annealed proton-exchanged (APE) 5 mol. % MgO-doped LiNbO{sub 3} (MgO:LiNbO{sub 3}) crystals were studied using the Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy technique. Samples were prepared by benzoic acid proton-exchange followed with thermal annealing in oxygen. Evolutions of absorption peaks in APE MgO:LiNbO{sub 3} crystals were recorded and analyzed. Comparing with none-doped APE LiNbO{sub 3} crystals, a different phase transition behavior was found during thermal annealing. A periodically poled MgO:LiNbO{sub 3} slab waveguide was prepared using identical procedures, and the second harmonic generation (SHG) signals were measured. Comparing the obtained SHG results with the infrared spectra, relationships between the phase transitions and the recovery of second-order nonlinear coefficients during thermal annealing were investigated. Finally, a method for optimizing the performance of MgO:LiNbO{sub 3} waveguides was proposed.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Raman spectroscopy, dielectric properties and phase transitions of Ag{sub 0.96}Li{sub 0.04}NbO{sub 3} ceramics

Highlights: • First Raman scattering studies of Ag{sub 0.96}Li{sub 0.04}NbO{sub 3}, allowed us to correlate temperature evolution of relaxational frequency γ{sub R}(T) with the Nb-ion dynamics and showed its changes at freezing temperature and ferrielectric transition. - Abstract: Silver lithium niobates Ag{sub 1−x}Li{sub x}NbO{sub 3} are promising lead free piezoelectrics. Good quality Ag{sub 0.96}Li{sub 0.04}NbO{sub 3} ceramics were obtained. Dielectric and DSC studies showed that, in comparison to AgNbO{sub 3,} temperatures of phase transitions slightly decrease. Dielectric studies pointed to enhancement of polar properties. Remnant polarisations achieves value of 0.6 μC/cm{sup 2}. Maximum of ϵ(T) dependences related to the relaxor-like ferroelectric/ferrielectric M{sub 1}–M{sub 2} transition becomes higher and more frequency dependent. Analysis of Raman spectra showed that two modes at 50 and 194 cm{sup −1} exhibit significant softening. Low frequency part of the Raman spectra which involve central peak and soft mode were analysed using two models. CP was assumed as relaxational vibration and described by Debye function. The slope of temperature dependences of relaxational frequency γ{sub R}(T) changes at approximately 470 and 330 K, indicating that slowing down process of relaxational vibrations changes in the vicinity of partial freezing of Nb-ion dynamics T{sub f} and further freezing at ferroelectric/ferrielectric phase transition.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Effects of doping, hydrostatic pressure, and thermal quenching on the phase transitions and magnetocaloric properties in Mn 1– x Co x NiGe

The effects of doping, hydrostatic pressure, and thermal quenching on the phase transitions and magnetocaloric properties of the Mn 1–x Co x NiGe system have been investigated. Cobalt doping on the Mn site shifted the martensitic structural transition toward lower temperature until it was ultimately absent, leaving only a magnetic transition from a ferromagnetic (FM) to a paramagnetic (PM) state in the high-temperature hexagonal phase. Co-occurrence of the magnetic and structural transitions to form a first-order magnetostructural transition (MST) from the FM orthorhombic to the PM hexagonal phase was observed in samples with 0.05 < x < 0.20. An additional antiferromagnetic–ferromagnetic-like transition was observed in the martensite phase for 0.05 < x < 0.10, which gradually vanished with increasing Co concentration (x > 0.10) or magnetic field (H > 0.5 T). The application of external hydrostatic pressure shifted the structural transition to lower temperature until an MST was formed in samples with x = 0.03 and 0.05, inducing large magnetic entropy changes up to –80.3 J kg –1 K –1 (x = 0.03) for a 7-T field change under 10.6-kbar pressure. Similar to the effects of the application of hydrostatic pressure, an MST was formed near room temperature in the sample with x = 0.03 by annealing at high temperature (1200 °C) followed by quenching, resulting in a large magnetic entropy change of –56.2 J kg –1 K –1 . Furthermore, these experimental results show that the application of pressure and thermal quenching, in addition to compositional variations, are effective methods to create magnetostructural transitions in the MnNiGe system, resulting in large magnetocaloric effects.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

Control of magnetic relaxation by electric-field-induced ferroelectric phase transition and inhomogeneous domain switching

Electric-field modulation of magnetism in strain-mediated multiferroic heterostructures is considered a promising scheme for enabling memory and magnetic microwave devices with ultralow power consumption. However, it is not well understood how electric-field-induced strain influences magnetic relaxation, an important physical process for device applications. Here, we investigate resonant magnetization dynamics in ferromagnet/ferroelectric multiferroic heterostructures, FeGaB/PMN-PT and NiFe/PMN-PT, in two distinct strain states provided by electric-field-induced ferroelectric phase transition. The strain not only modifies magnetic anisotropy but also magnetic relaxation. In FeGaB/PMN-PT, we observe a nearly two-fold change in intrinsic Gilbert damping by electric field, which is attributed to strain-induced tuning of spin-orbit coupling. By contrast, a small but measurable change in extrinsic linewidth broadening is attributed to inhomogeneous ferroelastic domain switching during the phase transition of the PMN-PT substrate.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Local negative permittivity and topological phase transition in polar skyrmions

Topological solitons such as magnetic skyrmions have drawn attention as stable quasi-particle-like objects. The recent discovery of polar vortices and skyrmions in ferroelectric oxide superlattices has opened up new vistas to explore topology, emergent phenomena and approaches for manipulating such features with electric fields. Using macroscopic dielectric measurements, coupled with direct scanning convergent beam electron diffraction imaging on the atomic scale, theoretical phase-field simulations and second-principles calculations, we demonstrate that polar skyrmions in (PbTiO 3 ) n /(SrTiO 3 ) n superlattices are distinguished by a sheath of negative permittivity at the periphery of each skyrmion. This enhances the effective dielectric permittivity compared with the individual SrTiO 3 and PbTiO 3 layers. Moreover, the response of these topologically protected structures to electric field and temperature shows a reversible phase transition from the skyrmion state to a trivial uniform ferroelectric state, accompanied by large tunability of the dielectric permittivity. Pulsed switching measurements show a time-dependent evolution and recovery of the skyrmion state (and macroscopic dielectric response). The interrelationship between topological and dielectric properties presents an opportunity to simultaneously manipulate both by a single, and easily controlled, stimulus, the applied electric field. Polar skyrmions are topologically protected structures that can exist in (PbTiO 3 ) n /(SrTiO 3 ) n superlattices. Here, it is shown that they have negative permittivity at the surface, and that they can undergo a reversible phase transition with large dielectric tunability under an electric field.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

High dimensional binary classification under label shift: phase transition and regularization

Label Shift has been widely believed to be harmful to the generalization performance of machine learning models. Researchers have proposed many approaches to mitigate the impact of the label shift, e.g., balancing the training data. However, these methods often consider the underparametrized regime, where the sample size is much larger than the data dimension. The research under the overparametrized regime is very limited. Here, to bridge this gap, we propose a new asymptotic analysis of the Fisher Linear Discriminant classifier for binary classification with label shift. Specifically, we prove that there exists a phase transition phenomenon: Under certain overparametrized regime, the classifier trained using imbalanced data outperforms the counterpart with reduced balanced data. Moreover, we investigate the impact of regularization to the label shift: The aforementioned phase transition vanishes as the regularization becomes strong.

binary classification↗

Structural phase transition, narrow band gap, and room-temperature ferromagnetism in [KNbO{sub 3}]{sub 1−x}[BaNi{sub 1/2}Nb{sub 1/2}O{sub 3−δ}]{sub x} ferroelectrics

Structural phase transition, narrow band gap (E{sub g}), and room-temperature ferromagnetism (RTFM) have been observed in the [KNbO{sub 3}]{sub 1−x}[BaNi{sub 1/2}Nb{sub 1/2}O{sub 3−δ}]{sub x} (KBNNO) ceramics. All the samples have single phase perovskite structure, but exhibit a gradual transition behaviour from the orthorhombic to a cubic structure with the increase of x. Raman spectroscopy analysis not only corroborates this doping-induced change in normal structure but also shows the local crystal symmetry for x ≥ 0.1 compositions to deviate from the idealized cubic perovskite structure. A possible mechanism for the observed specific changes in lattice structure is discussed. Moreover, it is noted that KBNNO with compositions x = 0.1–0.3 have quite narrow E{sub g} of below 1.5 eV, much smaller than the 3.2 eV band gap of parent KNbO{sub 3} (KNO), which is due to the increasing Ni 3d electronic states within the gap of KNO. Furthermore, the KBNNO materials present RTFM near a tetragonal to cubic phase boundary. With increasing x from 0 to 0.3, the magnetism of the samples develops from diamagnetism to ferromagnetism and paramagnetism, originating from the ferromagnetic–antiferromagnetic competition. These results are helpful in the deeper understanding of phase transitions, band gap tunability, and magnetism variations in perovskite oxides and show the potential role, such materials can play, in perovskite solar cells and multiferroic applications.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Spin dynamics and field-induced magnetic phase transition in the honeycomb Kitaev magnet α Li 2 IrO 3

The layered honeycomb iridate $α-Li_2IrO_3$ displays an incommensurate magnetic structure with counter-rotating moments on nearest-neighbor sites, proposed to be stabilized by strongly frustrated anisotropic Kitaev interactions between spin-orbit entangled $Ir^{4+}$ magnetic moments. Here we report powder inelastic neutron scattering measurements that observe sharply dispersive low-energy magnetic excitations centered at the magnetic ordering wave vector, attributed to Goldstone excitations of the incommensurate order, as well as an additional intense mode above a gap $Δ ≃ 2.3$ meV. Zero-field muon-spin relaxation measurements show clear oscillations in the muon polarization below the Néel temperature $T_N ≃ 15$ K with a time-dependent profile consistent with bulk incommensurate long-range magnetism. Pulsed-field magnetization measurements observe that only about half the saturation magnetization value is reached at the maximum field of 64 T. A clear anomaly near 25 T indicates a transition to a phase with reduced susceptibility. The transition field has a Zeeman energy comparable to the zero-field gapped mode, suggesting gap suppression as a possible mechanism for the field-induced transition.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗