Phase Transition Boundary Research Articles

Equation of state of liquid bismuth and its melting curve from ultrasonic investigation at high pressure

To obtain the equation of state of liquid bismuth and its melting curve, ultrasonic velocity measurements were performed in a multi-anvil apparatus. Using a series of thermodynamic relationships, we extract the volume of liquid bismuth as functions of pressure and temperature up to 973K and 4.3GPa. We also introduce a calculation process to build the thermal equations of state of each phase of solid bismuth based on their phase transition boundaries. Combining the thermodynamic parameters of liquid and solid bismuth, we employ the Gibbs equation and the Clausius-Clapeyron equation and finally derive the melting curve up to 8GPa, which shows excellent consistency with most previous theoretical and experimental results. These results not only demonstrate the accuracy of our experimental and theoretical methods, but also demonstrate the feasibility of the thermodynamic method for obtaining unknown melting curves.

Dynamics of the phase transition boundary in the presence of nucleation and growth of crystals

Nucleation and growth of crystals in a moving metastable layer of phase transition is analyzed theoretically. The integro-differential equations for the density distribution function and system metastability are solved analytically on the basis of a previously developed approach (Alexandrov and Malygin 2013 J. Phys. A: Math. Theor. 46 455101) in cases of the kinetic and diffusionally controlled regimes of crystal growth. The Weber–Volmer–Frenkel–Zel’dovich and Meirs nucleation kinetics are considered. It is shown that the phase transition boundary propagates with time as , where and in cases of kinetic and diffusionally controlled growth regimes. The growth rate constants α and β as well as parameter ε are found analytically. The phase transition boundary in the presence of particle nucleation and growth moves slower than in cases without nucleation.

Quantum percolation phase transition and magnetoelectric dipole glass in hexagonal ferrites

Hexagonal ferrites do not only have enormous commercial impact ({\pounds}2 billion/year in sales) due to applications that include ultra-high density memories, credit card stripes, magnetic bar codes, small motors and low-loss microwave devices, they also have fascinating magnetic and ferroelectric quantum properties at low temperatures. Here we report the results of tuning the magnetic ordering temperature in PbFe$_{12-x}$Ga$_x$O$_{19}$ to zero by chemical substitution $x$. The phase transition boundary is found to vary as $T_N \sim (1-x/x_c)^{2/3}$ with $x_c$ very close to the calculated spin percolation threshold which we determine by Monte Carlo simulations, indicating that the zero-temperature phase transition is geometrically driven. We find that this produces a form of compositionally-tuned, insulating, ferrimagnetic quantum criticality. Close to the zero temperature phase transition we observe the emergence of an electric-dipole glass induced by magneto-electric coupling. The strong frequency behaviour of the glass freezing temperature $T_m$ has a Vogel-Fulcher dependence with $T_m$ finite, or suppressed below zero in the zero frequency limit, depending on composition $x$. These quantum-mechanical properties, along with the multiplicity of low-lying modes near to the zero-temperature phase transition, are likely to greatly extend applications of hexaferrites into the realm of quantum and cryogenic technologies.

Ab initio study of the dolomite to dolomite-II high-pressure phase transition

Ab initio calculations were performed on ordered and disordered dolomite and dolomite-II crystal structures. The mechanism for the dolomite to dolomite-II phase transition was investigated by the calculation of vibrational frequencies. In particular, a soft mode was observed at the F point of the rhombohedral Brillouin zone, whose frequency becomes imaginary at pressure ( P ) higher than 16.70 GPa. Static geometry optimizations of dolomite-II in the P range 0–32 GPa allowed to study both the dolomite structural evolution with P and its compressibility. As pressure decreases, the dolomite-II distortion decreases as well, becoming almost regular at ∼17 GPa (phase transition) and increasing again after the phase transition, to values comparable to the low-pressure dolomite. The deformation style slightly changes in the dolomite-II like crystal structures before and after the phase transition. At low P (dolomite), K = 95.4 (5) GPa and K ′ = 4.26(8), whereas dolomite-II after the phase transition has K ′ = 3.44(3), by fixing V and K at the value obtained for dolomite at the equilibrium. The influence of cation disorder on the baric behavior of dolomite was also investigated. No phase transition was predicted for disordered dolomite, at least up to 26 GPa. Thermodynamic calculations carried out on the two dolomite polymorphs allow the evaluation of temperature ( T ) effects on the phase transition in the range of validity of a fully ordered structural model. The dolomite to dolomite-II phase transition boundary is located at P = 16.75 GPa at T = 300 K, in agreement with considerations based on the static calculation and the analysis of the soft mode.

Quantum dot attached to superconducting leads: Relation between symmetric and asymmetric coupling

We study the Anderson single-level quantum dot attached to two BCS superconducting leads with the same gap size. We reveal that a system with asymmetric tunnel coupling to the leads ($\Gamma_{L}\neq\Gamma_{R}$) can be related to the symmetric system with the same net coupling strength $\Gamma=\Gamma_{L}+\Gamma_{R}$. Surprisingly, it is the symmetric case which is the most general, meaning that all physical quantities in case of asymmetric coupling are fully determined by the symmetric ones. We give ready-to-use conversion formulas for the $0-\pi$ phase transition boundary, on-dot quantities, and the Josephson current, and illustrate them on the NRG results of Oguri, Tanaka and Bauer [Phys. Rev. B 87, 075432 (2013)] for the three-terminal setup. We apply our theory to the recent $0-\pi$ transition measurement of Delagrange et al. [Phys. Rev. B 93, 196437 (2016)] and determine the asymmetry of the experimental setup from the measured transition width. Finally, we establish that the widely assumed Kondo "universality" of physical quantities depending only on the ratio of the Kondo temperature and the superconducting gap $T_{K}/\Delta$ cannot hold for asymmetric junctions.

A study of heat transport at the ice base and structure of the under-ice water layer in Southern Baikal

Experimental data and a new model of ice buildup are used to assess and to study variations of heat flux at the water–ice interface. The latter plays an important part in ice cover formation but still is poorly known because of the lack of field temperature measurements with sufficient spatial and temporal resolution along the phase transition boundary, which knowledge gap is filled by this study.

In situ imaging of the dynamics of photo-induced structural phase transition at high pressures by picosecond acoustic interferometry

Picosecond acoustic interferometry is used to monitor in time the motion of the phase transition boundary between two water ice phases, VII and VI, coexisting at a pressure of 2.15 GPa when compressed in a diamond anvil cell at room temperature. By analyzing the time-domain Brillouin scattering signals accumulated for a single incidence direction of probe laser pulses, it is possible to access ratios of sound velocity values and of the refractive indices of the involved phases, and to distinguish between the structural phase transition and a recrystallization process. Two-dimensional spatial imaging of the phase transition dynamics indicates that it is initiated by the pump and probe laser pulses, preferentially at the diamond/ice interface. This method should find applications in three-dimensional monitoring with nanometer spatial resolution of the temporal dynamics of low-contrast material inhomogeneities caused by phase transitions or chemical reactions in optically transparent media.

Seismic evidence for the depression of the D″ discontinuity beneath the Caribbean: Implication for slab heating from the Earth's core

The lowermost 100–300 km of the Earth's mantle commonly regarded as the thermal boundary layer (TBL) of mantle circulation is characterized by its complex physical properties. Beneath the Caribbean this so-called D″ layer features relatively high velocities and abrupt impedance increase at the top (designated as the D″ discontinuity). These seismic characteristics have been attributed to the accumulation of ancient subducted slab material and the phase transition in the major lower mantle mineral of pervoskite. Geodynamic models predict that the blanketing cold slabs may trap enough heat from core to be buoyantly destabilized, and eventually broken apart and entrained into the bottom of the convection cell. Here we explore the D″ structure with unprecedented resolution through modeling traveltimes, amplitudes, and waveform shapes from the USArray. We find an east-to-west asymmetrical undulation of the D″ discontinuity with a V-shaped depression of ∼70–160 km over a lateral distance of 600 km beneath northern South America. The shear velocity perturbations vary in the same trend showing the most pronounced reduction of ∼3–4% below the thinnest D″ layer in close proximity to an intermittently undetected discontinuity. The strong correlation between the D″ topography and velocity variations indicates the phase transition boundary has been perturbed or even disrupted by the large lateral temperature gradient of slab material which has been reheated from the core over extended periods of time.

On the theory of unsteady-state crystallization with a mushy layer

The self-similar and unsteady-state crystallization processes of binary melts with a mushy layer are considered. Two analytical methods of solution of the mushy layer nonlinear model with the moving phase transition boundaries are detailed. The obtained analytical solutions are in good agreement with experimental data.

Design and analysis of energy recyclable bidirectional converter with digital controller for multichannel microstimulators

The power supply modulated microstimulator system can drive an expandable electrode array with reduced heat generation across the current drivers and high stimulation efficiency. Here, we present a comprehensive analytical modelling of the system to investigate internal and external energy flow during biphasic stimulation pulses spanning over varying loading configurations (e.g. number of electrodes, and stimulation current amplitude) that were not covered by existing works on the power supply modulated microstimulators. This paper fills the research gap by presenting the systematic tools for attaining insights of a stimulator system featuring a bidirectional DC---DC converter with an algorithmic digital controller. The models employed here are based on traditional analytical methods such as transfer functions and state-space dynamic models incorporating various circuit elements incurring power loss. With the models, the behaviour and power efficiency under a wide range of parameters associated with stimulator are attained. Numerical assessment reveals that the digital controller can track the output supply voltage at the phase transition boundaries just in tens of switching cycles. The system was also studied on a verification platform, where the internal signals of the digital controller were carefully examined. Measurement results show that the system behavior well matched to the simulation results, demonstrating the effectiveness of the analytical system model for obtaining key insights for generic large-scale micro-stimulator designs.

Wide-Temperature-Range Dielectric Permittivity Measurement under High Pressure☆☆Supported by the National Basic Research Program of China under Grant No 2009CB623301.

Two measurement systems are developed for in-situ dielectric property measurement under high pressure in a wide-temperature range from 77 K to 1273 K. The high-temperature system ranging from room temperature up to 1273 K is equipped with a hexahedron anvils press, while the low-temperature system ranging from liquid nitrogen temperature to normal condition is equipped using the piston cylinder setup with a specially designed sample chamber. Using these configurations, the dielectric property measurement of ferroelectric BaTiO3 and multiferroic Tm0.5Gd0.5MnO3 compounds are demonstrated, which proves the validity of the systems through the tuning of the polarization and phase transition boundary by high pressure. These two systems will be equally applicable to a wide variety of electronic and transport property measurements of insulators, semiconductors, as well as battery materials.

Electrocaloric Study Effect in the Relaxor Ferroelectric Ceramic 0.9(0.75PMN-0.25PT)-0.1PS

This work is meant to study the electrocaloric effect in 0.9(0.75Pb(Mg1/3 Nb2/3)O3-0.25PbTiO3)-0.1PbSnO3 (0.9(PMN-PT)-0.1PS) ferroelectric ceramics. The adiabatic temperature change (ΔT) of 0.9(PMN-PT)-0.1PS ceramic, due to the application or withdrawal of an electric field, were calculated through the thermodynamic relation. The temperature change increases with an increase in the applied electric field and reaches a maximum of 0.66 K in a 30 kV/cm electric field shift near the morphotropic phase boundary transition, ferroelectric–paraelectric, at 373 K; that is, the electrocaloric coefficient is 0.220 × 10−6 m K/V, this obtained value is at high temperature, which limits its potential as the next generation solid state cooling devices.

Determining the boundaries of second-type phase transitions in Ag–Mg–Cd alloys by means of diffusion couples

The interaction between elements in the transition zones of diffusion couples Mg + AgCd–alloy are studied. Isothermal sections of the Ag–Mg–Cd ternary system at 573 K are constructed. The existence of a Heusler phase based on H–Ag2MgCd compound is found in the field of the solid β′-solution. It is shown that the interdiffusion of components prevents the formation of ordered phases in the transition zones of bimetals, allowing us to determine the boundaries of second-type phase transitions in solid solutions.

Phase equilibrium in a water + n-hexane system with a high water content

The Р, ρ, and Т-properties of a water + n-hexane system immiscible under normal conditions are measured piezometrically in the water mole fraction range of 0.918–0.977 at 309–685 K and pressures of up to 66 MPa. Two phase transitions are observed on each isochore corresponding to phase transitions of hydrocarbon liquid into gas or the dissolution of n-hexane in water and the transition of aqueous liquid into gas. The boundaries of phase transitions and their critical parameters are determined.

Shear-induced structural and thermodynamic phase transitions in micellar systems.

In this contribution a methodology to compute and classify shear-induced structural and phase transitions in surfactant/water mixtures from rheological measurements is presented. Non-linear rheological experiments, considering variations in surfactant concentration and temperature, are analyzed. In particular, the parameters of the BMP (Bautista-Manero-Puig) model, obtained from the fitting of the shear stress versus shear rate data, which are functions of surfactant concentration and temperature, allow classifying structural and phase transition boundaries. To test this methodology, we consider the analysis of the shear-induced structural and phase transitions of two micellar systems, cetyltrimethylammonium tosylate (CTAT)/water as a function of CTAT concentrations and Pluronics P103/water as a function of temperature. We found that the CTAT/water system presents a first-order phase transition at 30 ° C, and around 31 to 32 wt.% from isotropic to nematic phases, whereas a 20 wt.% Pluronics P103 aqueous micellar solution has two second-order (structural) phase transitions, one from spherical to cylindrical micelles at 33.1 ° C, and another one from cylindrical micelles to a nematic phase at 35.8 ° C and one first-order phase transition around 37.9 ° C at high shear rates near to the cloud point previously reported. The proposed methodology is also able to identify the instability regions where the wormlike micelles are broken, producing the typical shear banding behavior.

Identifying the number of factors from singular values of a large sample auto-covariance matrix

Identifying the number of factors in a high-dimensional factor model has attracted much attention in recent years and a general solution to the problem is still lacking. A promising ratio estimator based on the singular values of the lagged autocovariance matrix has been recently proposed in the literature and is shown to have a good performance under some specific assumption on the strength of the factors. Inspired by this ratio estimator and as a first main contribution, this paper proposes a complete theory of such sample singular values for both the factor part and the noise part under the large-dimensional scheme where the dimension and the sample size proportionally grow to infinity. In particular, we provide the exact description of the phase transition phenomenon that determines whether a factor is strong enough to be detected with the observed sample singular values. Based on these findings and as a second main contribution of the paper, we propose a new estimator of the number of factors which is strongly consistent for the detection of all significant factors (which are the only theoretically detectable ones). In particular, factors are assumed to have the minimum strength above the phase transition boundary which is of the order of a constant; they are thus not required to grow to infinity together with the dimension (as assumed in most of the existing papers on high-dimensional factor models). Empirical Monte-Carlo study as well as the analysis of stock returns data attest a very good performance of the proposed estimator. In all the tested cases, the new estimator largely outperforms the existing estimator using the same ratios of singular values.

Disclosing the structural, phase transition, elastic and thermodynamic properties of CdSe1−xTex(x = 0.0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1.0) using LDA exchange correlation

The phase transition and structural, elastic, thermodynamic characteristics of CdSe1−xTex alloys for all compositions x (x=0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1) in both hexagonal wurtzite (WZ) and cubic zinc-blende (ZB) are studied at zero K and zero pressure in emphasis of the Full Potential Linearized Augmented Plane Wave (FP-LAPW) approach, in accordance with the Density Functional Theory (DFT). This was inserted within the WIEN2k code, alongside a local density approximation (LDA) in order to consider the exchange-correlation functional. For all compositions the CdSe1−xTex alloys were found to be mechanically stable for both phases ZB and WZ, and the strongest material among all structures is CdSe. Our findings reveal that the relation between elastic constants and the Te concentrations is not linear. The induced phase transition from ZB to WZ is studied at zero K, and the corresponding volume collapses at the phase transition boundary are calculated for all compositions x (x=0.0, 0.25, 0.50, 0.75). Our results show that for all compositions of the CdSe1−xTex alloys, the stable phase is zinc-blende. Furthermore, the elastic characteristics of ZB and WZ phases of CdSe1−xTex alloys, alongside elastic constants, bulk modulus and shear modulus were determined and assessed in comparison with other theoretical and experimental findings available. A positive relationship was observed.

Effects of spin-orbit coupling on Jaynes-Cummings and Tavis-Cummings models

We consider ultracold atoms inside a ring optical cavity that supports a single plane-wave mode. The cavity field, together with an external coherent laser field, drives a two-photon Raman transition between two internal pseudo-spin states of the atom. This gives rise to an effective coupling between atom's pseudo-spin and external center-of-mass (COM) motion. For the case of a single atom inside the cavity, We show how the spin-orbit coupling modifies the static and dynamic properties of the Jaynes-Cummings (JC) model. In the case of many atoms in thermodynamic limit, we show that the spin-orbit coupling modifies the Dicke superradiance phase transition boundary and the non-superradiant normal phase may become reentrant in some regimes.

Free-standing SWNTs/VO2/Mica hierarchical films for high-performance thermochromic devices

Vanadium dioxide (VO2) with reversible metal-insulator transition (MIT) is a promising energy-saving material for next-generation smart windows and infrared devices. However, the specific applications are largely limited by the relatively high critical temperature as well as the non-transferable grown-substrate. Herein, we report such limitations can be overcome by directly growing VO2 on layered mica sheets and integrating with high transparent single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) films. The SWNTs/VO2/mica hierarchical films can be peeled-off to form a free-standing ultra-thin optical window and can further be transferred to other substrates with high flexibility and transparency. By heating the SWNTs/VO2 layer with a bias current, the MIT process of VO2 film can be facilely modulated, achieving the reversible and dynamical regulation of the infrared transmission. Furthermore, by adjusting the bias current, it is possible to change the starting local temperature and shift the initial situation close to the “phase transition boundary”, resulting in the decreased energy barrier to trigger the MIT behavior. This fascinating strategy overcomes the high critical temperature limit of VO2 and avoids the bottle-neck problem in practical applications of VO2 material, which demonstrates wide applications of this kind of device in the future.

From local to nonlocal correlations: The Dual Boson perspective

Extended dynamical mean-field theory (EDMFT) is insufficient to describe non-local effects in strongly correlated systems, since corrections to the mean-field solution are generally large. We present an efficient scheme for the construction of diagrammatic extensions of EDMFT that avoids usual double counting problem by using an exact change of variables (the dual boson formalism) to distinguish the correlations included in the mean-field solution and those beyond. With a computational efficiency comparable to EDMFT+GW approach, our scheme significantly improves on the charge order transition phase boundary in the extended Hubbard model.