Investigation of the thermal and ferroelectric properties of a Spin-1 Ising thin film: Insight from path integral Monte Carlo

Abstract

In this work, we provide an analysis of the thermal and ferroelectric properties of an Ising thin film in a transverse field extended for a higher spin (σ=1) within the Quantum Monte Carlo method. For this purpose, several underlying physical quantities were examined in detail including the longitudinal polarization, pyroelectric coefficient, internal energy, and entropy change. This work unravels also a particular contribution of the transverse field Ω/J and surface coupling Js/J on the aforementioned physical quantities, which have significant implication on the phase transition temperature Tc. The polarization values are kept almost unchanged at a low temperature. Furthermore, the peaks corresponding to the entropy change ΔS are broad, and usually occur in a narrow temperature at their corresponding Tc, and result an enlargement of their magnitude upon increasing the external electric field and ultimately their maxima. Meanwhile, a change regarding the interfacial coupling Jint does not significantly affect ΔS and thus Tc. A typical hysteresis behavior is observed to confirm the ferroelectric–paraelectric phase transition.