BKT phase transition in a 2D system with long-range dipole-dipole interaction

Abstract

We consider phase transitions in 2D XY-like systems with long-range dipole-dipole interactions and demonstrate that BKT-type phase transition always occurs separating the ordered (ferroelectric) and the disordered (paraelectric) phases. The low-temperature phase corresponds to a thermal state with bound vortex-antivortex pairs characterized by linear attraction at large distances. Using the Maier-Schwabl topological charge model, we show that bound vortex pairs polarize and screen the vortex-antivortex interaction, leaving only the logarithmic attraction at sufficiently large separations between the vortices. At higher temperatures the pairs dissociate and the phase transition similar to BKT occurs, though at a larger temperature than in a system without the dipole-dipole interaction.