Influence of the electric field on the latent heat of the ferroelectric phase transition in KDP

The specific heat, heat flux (DTA trace) and dielectric constant of KDP ferroelectric crystal have been measured simultaneously for various electric fields with a conduction calorimeter. The specific heat presents a strong anomaly but these simultaneous measurements allow us to evaluate the latent heat accurately. Latent heat decreases with field and the value of critical electric field --that where latent heat disappears-- is estimated to be (0.44\pm0.03) kV/cm. Incidentally, we have measured simultaneously the dielectric permittivity which suggests that latent heat is developed as domains are growing.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures, ReVTeX, twocolumn format, to appear in J. Phys. Cond. Matte

Tricritical Lifshitz point in the temperature-pressure-composition diagram for (PbySn1-y)2 P2(SexS1-x)6 ferroelectrics

The heat capacity of Sn2P2S6 ferroelectric crystals has been measured under quasihydrostatic pressures up to 0.7 GPa. The analysis of the heat-capacity and literature data for the birefringence shows that the tricritical point of Sn2P2S6 is in the 0.20–0.25 GPa range. Moreover, in the approximation of a linear change in the free-energy expansion coefficients, with respect to concentration and pressure, thermodynamic trajectories have been constructed for (PbySn1−y)2 P2(SexS1−x)6 solid solutions. We have thereby identified the region of the T-p-y-x diagram for (PbySn1−y)2 P2(SexS1−x)6 showing the tricritical Lifshitz point