Classification of phase transitions in small systems

We present a classification scheme for phase transitions in finite systems like atomic and molecular clusters based on the Lee-Yang zeros in the complex temperature plane. In the limit of infinite particle numbers the scheme reduces to the Ehrenfest definition of phase transitions and gives the right critical indices. We apply this classification scheme to Bose-Einstein condensates in a harmonic trap as an example of a higher order phase transitions in a finite system and to small Ar clusters.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Let

Order-disorder transition in nanoscopic semiconductor quantum rings

Using the path integral Monte Carlo technique we show that semiconductor quantum rings with up to six electrons exhibit a temperature, ring diameter, and particle number dependent transition between spin ordered and disordered Wigner crystals. Due to the small number of particles the transition extends over a broad temperature range and is clearly identifiable from the electron pair correlation functions.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, For recent information on physics of small systems see http://www.smallsystems.d

Calcium-phosphorus interactions at a nano-structured silicate surface

Nano-structured calcium silicate (NCS), a highly porous material synthesized by controlledprecipitation from geothermal fluids or sodium silicate solution, was developed as filler for use inpaper manufacture. NCS has been shown to chemisorb orthophosphate from an aqueous solutionprobably obeying a Freundlich isotherm with high selectivity compared to other commonenvironmental anions. Microanalysis of the products of chemisorption indicated there wassignificant change from the porous and nano-structured morphology of pristine NCS to fibrous andcrystalline morphologies and non-porous detritus. X-ray diffraction analysis of the crystallineproducts showed it to be brushite, CaHPO4?2H2O, while the largely x-ray amorphous componentwas a mixture of calcium phosphates. A two-step mechanism was proposed for the chemisorption ofphosphate from an aqueous solution by NCS. The first step, which was highly dependent on pH, wasthought to be desorption of hydroxide ions from the NCS surface. This was kinetically favoured atlower initial pH, where the predominant form of phosphate present was H2PO4-, and led to decreasedphosphorus uptake with increasing pH. The second step was thought to be a continuingchemisorption process after stabilization of the pH-value. The formation of brushite as the primarychemisorption product was found to be consistent with the proposed mechanism

Deceptive signals of phase transitions in small magnetic clusters

We present an analysis of the thermodynamic properties of small transition metal clusters and show how the commonly used indicators of phase transitions like peaks in the specific heat or magnetic susceptibility can lead to deceptive interpretations of the underlying physics. The analysis of the distribution of zeros of the canonical partition function in the whole complex temperature plane reveals the nature of the transition. We show that signals in the magnetic susceptibility at positive temperatures have their origin at zeros lying at negative temperatures.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, revtex4, for further information see http://www.smallsystems.d

Classification of the Nuclear Multifragmentation Phase Transition

Using a recently proposed classification scheme for phase transitions in finite systems [Phys.Rev.Lett.{\bf 84},3511 (2000)] we show that within the statistical standard model of nuclear multifragmentation the predicted phase transition is of first order.Comment: 5 pages, 4 eps figures, accepted for publication in Phys.Rev.C (in press

Characterization of the South Atlantic marine boundary layer aerosol using an Aerodyne Aerosol Mass Spectrometer

International audienceMeasurements of the submicron fraction of the atmospheric aerosol in the marine boundary layer were performed from January to March 2007 (Southern Hemisphere summer) onboard the French research vessel Marion Dufresne in the Southern Atlantic and Indian Ocean (20° S?60° S, 70° W?60° E). For chemical composition measurements an Aerodyne High-Resolution-Time-of-Flight AMS was used to measure mass concentrations and species-resolved size distributions of non-refractory aerosol components in the submicron range. Within the "standard" AMS compounds (ammonium, chloride, nitrate, sulfate, organics) "sulfate" is the dominating species in the marine boundary layer reaching concentrations between 50 ng m?3 and 3 ?g m?3. Furthermore, what is seen as "sulfate" by the AMS seems to be mostly sulfuric acid. Another sulfur containing species that can ubiquitously be found in marine environments is methanesulfonic acid (MSA). Since MSA has not been directly measured before with an AMS, and is not part of the standard AMS analysis, laboratory experiments needed to be performed in order to be able to identify it within the AMS raw data and to extract mass concentrations for MSA from the field measurements. To identify characteristic air masses and their source regions backwards trajectories were used and averaged concentrations for AMS standard compounds were calculated for each air mass type. Sulfate mass size distributions were measured for these periods showing a distinct difference between oceanic air masses and those from African outflow. While the peak size in the mass distribution was roughly 250 nm in marine air masses it was shifted to 470 nm in African outflow air. Correlations between the mass concentrations of sulfate, organics and MSA were calculated which show a narrow correlation for MSA with sulfate/sulfuric acid coming from the ocean but not with continental sulfate

Extremely high magnetoresistance and conductivity in the type-II Weyl semimetals WP2 and MoP2

The peculiar band structure of semimetals exhibiting Dirac and Weyl crossings can lead to spectacular electronic properties such as large mobilities accompanied by extremely high magnetoresistance. In particular, two closely neighbouring Weyl points of the same chirality are protected from annihilation by structural distortions or defects, thereby significantly reducing the scattering probability between them. Here we present the electronic properties of the transition metal diphosphides, WP2 and MoP2, that are type-II Weyl semimetals with robust Weyl points. We present transport and angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy measurements, and first principles calculations. Our single crystals of WP2 display an extremely low residual low-temperature resistivity of 3 nohm-cm accompanied by an enormous and highly anisotropic magnetoresistance above 200 million % at 63 T and 2.5 K. These properties are likely a consequence of the novel Weyl fermions expressed in this compound. We observe a large suppression of charge carrier backscattering in WP2 from transport measurements.Comment: Appeared in Nature Communication

Giant Topological Hall Effect in the Noncollinear Phase of Two-Dimensional Antiferromagnetic Topological Insulator MnBi₄Te₇

Magnetic topological insulators provide an important platform for realizing several exotic quantum phenomena, such as the axion insulating state and the quantum anomalous Hall effect, owing to the interplay between topology and magnetism. MnBi4Te7 is a two-dimensional Z(2) antiferromagnetic (AFM) topological insulator with a Ne ' el temperature of similar to 13 K. In AFM materials, the topological Hall effect (THE) is observed owing to the existence of nontrivial spin structures. A material with noncollinearity that develops in the AFM phase rather than at the onset of the AFM order is particularly important. In this study, we observed that such an unanticipated THE starts to develop in a MnBi4Te7 single crystal when the magnetic field is rotated away from the easy axis (c-axis) of the system. Furthermore, the THE resistivity reaches a giant value of similar to 7 mu Omega-cm at 2 K when the angle between the magnetic field and the c-axis is 75 degrees. This value is significantly higher than the values for previously reported systems with noncoplanar structures. The THE can be ascribed to the noncoplanar spin structure resulting from the canted state during the spinflip transition in the ground AFM state of MnBi4Te7. The large THE at a relatively low applied field makes the MnBi4Te7 system a potential candidate for spintronic applications

Borrmann Effect in Photonic Crystals: Nonlinear Optical Consequences

Nonlinear-optical manifestations of the Borrmann effect that are consequences of the spectral dependence of the spatial distributions of the electromagnetic field in a structure are observed in one-dimensional photonic crystals. The spectrum of the light self-focusing effect corresponding to the propagation-matrix calculations has been measured near the edge of the photonic gap.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, published in russian at Pis'ma v Zhurnal Eksperimental'noi i Teoreticheskoi Fiziki, 2008, Vol. 87, No. 8, pp. 461-46