734 research outputs found
Interplay between proton ordering and ferroelectric polarization in H-bonded KDP-type crystals
The origin of ferroelectricity in KH_2PO_4 (KDP) is studied by
first-principles electronic structure calculations. In the low-temperature
phase, the collective off-center ordering of the protons is accompanied by an
electronic charge delocalization from the "near" and localization at the "far"
oxygen within the O-H...O bonds. Electrostatic forces, then, push the K+ ions
towards off-center positions, and induce a macroscopic polarization. The
analysis of the correlation between different geometrical and electronic
quantities, in connection with experimental data, supports the idea that the
role of tunnelling in isotopic effects is irrelevant. Instead, geometrical
quantum effects appear to play a central role.Comment: 8 pages, 2 postscript figures, submitted to the X Conference on
Computational Materials Science, Villasimius, Sardinia (Italy), 200
Nuclear-spin relaxation of Pb in ferroelectric powders
Motivated by a recent proposal by O. P. Sushkov and co-workers to search for
a P,T-violating Schiff moment of the Pb nucleus in a ferroelectric
solid, we have carried out a high-field nuclear magnetic resonance study of the
longitudinal and transverse spin relaxation of the lead nuclei from room
temperature down to 10 K for powder samples of lead titanate (PT), lead
zirconium titanate (PZT), and a PT monocrystal. For all powder samples and
independently of temperature, transverse relaxation times were found to be
ms, while the longitudinal relaxation times exhibited a
temperature dependence, with of over an hour at the lowest temperatures,
decreasing to s at room temperature. At high temperatures, the
observed behavior is consistent with a two-phonon Raman process, while in the
low temperature limit, the relaxation appears to be dominated by a
single-phonon (direct) process involving magnetic impurities. This is the first
study of temperature-dependent nuclear-spin relaxation in PT and PZT
ferroelectrics at such low temperatures. We discuss the implications of the
results for the Schiff-moment search.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure
Dynamics of relaxor ferroelectrics
We study a dynamic model of relaxor ferroelectrics based on the spherical
random-bond---random-field model and the Langevin equations of motion. The
solution to these equations is obtained in the long-time limit where the system
reaches an equilibrium state in the presence of random local electric fields.
The complex dynamic linear and third-order nonlinear susceptibilities
and , respectively, are calculated as
functions of frequency and temperature. In analogy with the static case, the
dynamic model predicts a narrow frequency dependent peak in ,
which mimics a transition into a glass-like state.Comment: 15 pages, Revtex plus 5 eps figure
Coexistence of the Critical Slowing Down and Glassy Freezing in Relaxor Ferroelectrics
We have developed a dynamical model for the dielectric response in relaxor
ferroelectrics which explicitly takes into account the coexistence of the
critical slowing down and glassy freezing. The application of the model to the
experiment in PMN allowed for the reconstruction of the nonequilibrium spin
glass state order parameter and its comparison with the results of recent NMR
experiment (Blinc et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 83, No. 2 (1999)). It is shown that
the degree of the local freezing is rather small even at temperatures where the
field-cooled permittivity exceeds the frequency dependent permittivity by an
order of magnitude. This observation indicates the significant role of the
critical slowing down (accompanying the glass freezing) in the system dynamics.
Also the theory predicts an important interrelationship between the frequency
dependent permittivity and the zero-field-cooled permittivity, which proved to
be consistent with the experiment in PMN (A. Levstik et. al., Phys. Rev. B 57,
11204 (1998))
The polymer phase of the TDAE-C organic ferromagnet
The high-pressure Electron Spin Resonance (ESR) measurements were preformed
on TDAE-C single crystals and stability of the polymeric phase was
established in the parameter space. At 7 kbar the system undergoes a
ferromagnetic to paramagnetic phase transition due to the pressure-induced
polymerization. The polymeric phase remains stable after the pressure release.
The depolymerization of the pressure-induced phase was observed at the
temperature of 520 K. Below room temperature, the polymeric phase behaves as a
simple Curie-type insulator with one unpaired electron spin per chemical
formula. The TDAE donor-related unpaired electron spins, formerly
ESR-silent, become active above the temperature of 320 K and the Curie-Weiss
behavior is re-established.Comment: Submitted to Phys. Rev.
Phase transitions and quantum effects in anharmonic crystals
The most important recent results in the theory of phase transitions and
quantum effects in quantum anharmonic crystals are presented and discussed. In
particular, necessary and sufficient conditions for a phase transition to occur
at some temperature are given in the form of simple inequalities involving the
interaction strength and the parameters describing a single oscillator. The
main characteristic feature of the theory is that both mentioned phenomena are
described in one and the same setting, in which thermodynamic phases of the
model appear as probability measures on path spaces. Then the possibility of a
phase transition to occur is related to the existence of multiple phases at the
same values of the relevant parameters. Other definitions of phase transitions,
based on the non-differentiability of the free energy density and on the
appearance of ordering, are also discussed
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