Ferrimagnetism of dilute Ising antiferromagnets

It is shown that nearest-neighbor antiferromagnetic interactions of identical Ising spins on imbalanced bipartite lattice and imbalanced bipartite hierarchical fractal result in ferrimagnetic order instead of antiferromagnetic one. On some crystal lattices dilute Ising antiferromagnets may also become ferrimagnets due to the imbalanced nature of the magnetic percolation cluster when it coexists with the percolation cluster of vacancies. As evidenced by the existing experiments on $Fe_pZn_{1-p}F_2$, such ferrimagnetism is inherent property of bcc lattice so thermodynamics of these compounds at low $p$ can be similar to that of antiferromagnet on imbalanced hierarchical fractal.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure

Spin-glass instability of short-range spherical ferromagnet

In structurally disordered ferromagnets the weak random dipole-dipole exchange may transform the polydomain state into a spin-glass one. To some extent the properties of such phase in disordered isotropic ferromagnet can be qualitatively described by the spherical model with the short-range ferromagnetic interaction and weak frustrated infinite-range random-bond exchange. This model is shown to predict that spin-glass phase substitute the ferromagnetic one at the arbitrary small disorder strength and that its thermodynamics has some similarity to that of polydomain state along with some significant distinctions. In particular, the longitudinal susceptibility at small fields becomes frozen below transition point at a constant value depending on the disorder strength, while the third order nonlinear magnetic susceptibilitiy exhibits the temperature oscillations in small field near the transition point. The relation of these predictions to the experimental data for some disordered isotropic ferromagnets is discussed.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure

On the thermodynamics of first-order phase transition smeared by frozen disorder

The simplified model of first-order transition in a media with frozen long-range transition-temperature disorder is considered. It exhibits the smearing of the transition due to appearance of the intermediate inhomogeneous phase with thermodynamics described by the ground state of the short-range random-field Ising model. Thus the model correctly reproduce the persistence of first-order transition only in dimensions d > 2, which is found in more realistic models. It also allows to estimate the behavior of thermodynamic parameters near the boundaries of the inhomogeneous phase.Comment: 4 page

Hysteresis loop signatures of phase transitions in a mean-field model of disordered Ising magnet

In accordance with recent experiments the mean-field type theories predict the presence of numerous metastable minima (states) in the rugged free-energy landscape of frustrated disordered magnets. This multiplicity of long-lived states with lifetimes greater than $10^5 s$ makes the task to experimentally determine which of them has the lowest free energy (and thus what thermodynamic phase the sample is in) seem rather hopeless the more so as we do not know a protocol (such as field-cooling or zero-field-cooling) leading to the equilibrium state(s). Nevertheless here we show in the framework of Landau-type phenomenological model that signatures of the mean-field equilibrium phase transitions in such highly nonequilibrium systems may be found in the evolution of the hysteresis loop form. Thus the sequence of transitions from spin-glass to mixed phase and to ferromagnetic one results in the changes from inclined hysteresis loop to that with the developing vertical sides and to one with the perfectly vertical sides. Such relation between loop form and the location of global minimum may hold beyond the mean-field approximation and can be useful in the real experiments and Monte-Carlo simulations of the problems involving rugged potential landscape. Also the very existence of the quasi-static loops in spin glass and mixed phases implies that the known disorder-smoothing of the first-order transition can be always accompanied by the emergence of multiple metastable states.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures; misprints corrected, slight deviations from published version (abstract and references

Spin ice in a field: quasi-phases and pseudo-transitions

Thermodynamics of the short-range model of spin ice magnets in a field is considered in the Bethe - Peierls approximation. The results obtained for [111], [100] and [011] fields agrees reasonably well with the existing Monte-Carlo simulations and some experiments. In this approximation all extremely sharp field-induced anomalies are described by the analytical functions of temperature and applied field. In spite of the absence of true phase transitions the analysis of the entropy and specific heat reliefs over H-T plane allows to discern the "pseudo-phases" with specific character of spin fluctuations and define the lines of more or less sharp "pseudo-transitions" between them.Comment: 18 pages, 16 figure

Inhomogeneity-induced second-order phase transitions in Potts model on hierarchical lattices

The thermodynamics of the $q$-state Potts model with arbitrary $q$ on a class of hierarchical lattices is considered. Contrary to the case of the crystal lattices, it has always the second-order phase transitions. The analytical expressions fo the critical indexes are obtained, their dependencies on the structural lattice pararmeters are studied and the scailing relations among them are establised. The structural criterion of the inhomogeneity-induced transformation of the transition order is suggested. The application of the results to a description of critical phenomena in the dilute crystals and substances confined in porous media is discussed.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figure

Scaling and finte-size-scaling in the two dimensional random-coupling Ising ferromagnet

It is shown by Monte Carlo method that the finite size scaling (FSS) holds in the two dimensional random-coupled Ising ferromagnet. It is also demonstrated that the form of universal FSS function constructed via novel FSS scheme depends on the strength of the random coupling for strongly disordered cases. Monte Carlo measurements of thermodynamic (infinite volume limit) data of the correlation length ($\xi$) up to $\xi \simeq 200$ along with measurements of the fourth order cumulant ratio (Binder's ratio) at criticality are reported and analyzed in view of two competing scenarios. It is demonstrated that the data are almost exclusively consistent with the scenario of weak universality.Comment: 9 pages, 4figuer

The Atmospheric Chemistry Suite (ACS) of Three Spectrometers for the ExoMars 2016 Trace Gas Orbiter

The Atmospheric Chemistry Suite (ACS) package is an element of the Russian contribution to the ESA-Roscosmos ExoMars 2016 Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) mission. ACS consists of three separate infrared spectrometers, sharing common mechanical, electrical, and thermal interfaces. This ensemble of spectrometers has been designed and developed in response to the Trace Gas Orbiter mission objectives that specifically address the requirement of high sensitivity instruments to enable the unambiguous detection of trace gases of potential geophysical or biological interest. For this reason, ACS embarks a set of instruments achieving simultaneously very high accuracy (ppt level), very high resolving power (>10,000) and large spectral coverage (0.7 to 17 μm—the visible to thermal infrared range). The near-infrared (NIR) channel is a versatile spectrometer covering the 0.7–1.6 μm spectral range with a resolving power of ∼20,000. NIR employs the combination of an echelle grating with an AOTF (Acousto-Optical Tunable Filter) as diffraction order selector. This channel will be mainly operated in solar occultation and nadir, and can also perform limb observations. The scientific goals of NIR are the measurements of water vapor, aerosols, and dayside or night side airglows. The mid-infrared (MIR) channel is a cross-dispersion echelle instrument dedicated to solar occultation measurements in the 2.2–4.4 μm range. MIR achieves a resolving power of >50,000. It has been designed to accomplish the most sensitive measurements ever of the trace gases present in the Martian atmosphere. The thermal-infrared channel (TIRVIM) is a 2-inch double pendulum Fourier-transform spectrometer encompassing the spectral range of 1.7–17 μm with apodized resolution varying from 0.2 to 1.3 cm−1. TIRVIM is primarily dedicated to profiling temperature from the surface up to ∼60 km and to monitor aerosol abundance in nadir. TIRVIM also has a limb and solar occultation capability. The technical concept of the instrument, its accommodation on the spacecraft, the optical designs as well as some of the calibrations, and the expected performances for its three channels are described