14 research outputs found
Anomalously large oxygen-ordering contribution to the thermal expansion of untwinned YBa2Cu3O6.95 single crystals: a glass-like transition near room temperature
We present high-resolution capacitance dilatometry studies from 5 - 500 K of
untwinned YBa2Cu3Ox (Y123) single crystals for x ~ 6.95 and x = 7.0. Large
contributions to the thermal expansivities due to O-ordering are found for x ~
6.95, which disappear below a kinetic glass-like transition near room
temperature. The kinetics at this glass transition is governed by an energy
barrier of 0.98 +- 0.07 eV, in very good agreement with other O-ordering
studies. Using thermodynamic arguments, we show that O-ordering in the Y123
system is particularly sensitive to uniaxial pressure (stress) along the chain
axis and that the lack of well-ordered chains in Nd123 and La123 is most likely
a consequence of a chemical-pressure effect.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, submitted to PR
New features in the phase diagram of TbMnO
The (H,T)-phase diagram of the multiferroic perovskite TbMnO was studied
by high-resolution thermal expansion and magnetostriction measurements. Below K, TbMnO shows
antiferromagnetic order, which changes at K where
simultaneously a spontaneous polarization develops. Sufficiently high
magnetic fields applied along or induce a polarization flop to .
We find that all of these transitions are strongly coupled to the lattice
parameters. Thus, our data allow for a precise determination of the phase
boundaries and also yield information about their uniaxial pressure
dependencies. The strongly hysteretic phase boundary to the ferroelectric phase
with is derived in detail. Contrary to previous reports, we find that
even in high magnetic fields there are no direct transitions from this phase to
the paraelectric phase. We also determine the various phase boundaries in the
low-temperature region related to complex reordering transitions of the Tb
moments.Comment: 17 pages including 9 figure