9 research outputs found
Fluctuation-induced first-order phase transition in Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya helimagnets
Two centuries of research on phase transitions have repeatedly highlighted
the importance of critical fluctuations that abound in the vicinity of a
critical point. They are at the origin of scaling laws obeyed by thermodynamic
observables close to second-order phase transitions resulting in the concept of
universality classes, that is of paramount importance for the study of
organizational principles of matter. Strikingly, in case such soft fluctuations
are too abundant they may alter the nature of the phase transition profoundly;
the system might evade the critical state altogether by undergoing a
discontinuous first-order transition into the ordered phase.
Fluctuation-induced first-order transitions have been discussed broadly and are
germane for superconductors, liquid crystals, or phase transitions in the early
universe, but clear experimental confirmations remain scarce. Our results from
neutron scattering and thermodynamics on the model Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya (DM)
helimagnet (HM) MnSi show that such a fluctuation-induced first-order
transition is realized between its paramagnetic and HM state with remarkable
agreement between experiment and a theory put forward by Brazovskii. While our
study clarifies the nature of the HM phase transition in MnSi that has puzzled
scientists for several decades, more importantly, our conclusions entirely
based on symmetry arguments are also relevant for other DM-HMs with only weak
cubic magnetic anisotropies. This is in particular noteworthy in light of a
wide range of recent discoveries that show that DM helimagnetism is at the
heart of problems such as topological magnetic order, multiferroics, and
spintronics.Comment: 19 pages, 9 figures, 2 table
Critical phenomena: 150 years since Cagniard de la Tour
Critical phenomena were discovered by Cagniard de la Tour in 1822, who died
150 years ago. In order to mark this anniversary, the context and the early
history of his discovery is reviewed. We then follow with a brief sketch of the
history of critical phenomena, indicating the main lines of development until
the present date.
Os fen\'omenos cr\'{\i}ticos foram descobertos pelo Cagniard de la Tour em
Paris em 1822. Para comemorar os 150 anos da sua morte, o contexto e a
hist\'oria initial da sua descoberta \'e contada. Conseguimos com uma
descri\c{c}\~ao breve da hist\'oria dos fen\'emenos cr\'{\i}ticos, indicando as
linhas principais do desenvolvimento at\'e o presente.Comment: Latex2e, 8 pp, 3 eps figures include
Electrochemistry in supercritical fluids
A wide range of supercritical fluids (SCFs) have been studied as solvents for electrochemistry with carbon dioxide and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) being the most extensively studied. Recent advances have shown that it is possible to get well-resolved voltammetry in SCFs by suitable choice of the conditions and the electrolyte. In this review, we discuss the voltammetry obtained in these systems, studies of the double-layer capacitance, work on the electrodeposition of metals into high aspect ratio nanopores and the use of metallocenes as redox probes and standards in both supercritical carbon dioxide–acetonitrile and supercritical HFCs