Shift of first-order phase transitions in thin films due to boundary fields: A computer simulation

Abstract

The first-order phase transition of the ferromagnetic Ising model driven by the magnetic field at temperatures below criticality is studied by Monte Carlo methods for a two-dimensional thin film geometry, L×M with two free boundaries of length M≫L, at which boundary fields act. This model study is relevant, in particular, for phase transitions in monolayers adsorbed at stepped surfaces. While in the bulk geometry (L→∞) this transition occurs for zero field in the present model, with the system ‘‘jumping’’ from a state with uniformly positive magnetization to a state with uniformly negative magnetization, in the thin film geometry the transition occurs at a critical field H*∼L−1, and the two states between which the transition occurs are characterized by strongly nonuniform magnetization profiles across the film. These findings are in agreement with the scaling theory of Fisher and Nakanishi.