Stress-induced domain dynamics and phase transitions in epitaxially grown VO₂ nanowires.

We demonstrate that surface stresses in epitaxially grown VO₂ nanowires (NWs) have a strong effect on the appearance and stability of intermediate insulating M₂ phases, as well as the spatial distribution of insulating and metallic domains during structural phase transitions. During the transition from an insulating M1 phase to a metallic R phase, the coexistence of insulating M₁ and M₂ phases with the absence of a metallic R phase was observed at atmospheric pressure. In addition, we show that, for a VO₂ NW without the presence of an epitaxial interface, surface stresses dominantly lead to spatially inhomogeneous phase transitions between insulating and metallic phases. In contrast, for a VO₂ NW with the presence of an epitaxial interface, the strong epitaxial interface interaction leads to additional stresses resulting in uniformly alternating insulating and metallic domains along the NW length.

Photomechanically Induced Phase Transitions in Ferroelectric Liquid Crystals

We report optically induced phase transtions occurring in two different host ferroelectric liquid crystals; SCE13 a multicomponentmixture optimised for room temperature performance, and CE8 a single component liquid crystal. These act as host liquid crystals for a novel guest azo dye, which can be made to photoisomerise using low power density U.V. illumination, resulting in dramatic changes in sample properties. We have shown that the magnitude of spontaneous polarisation of systems can be isothermally and reversibly induced or reduced, with the consequent appearance or disappearance of optical switching hysteresis. We discuss the parameters controlling the behaviour of the systems under U.V. illumination and suggest mechansims by which the transitions may occur. © 1993, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. All rights reserved.

Quantum phase transitions in the S=1/2 distorted diamond chain

By means of the second derivative of the ground-state and first-excited energy, the quantum phase transitions (QPTs) for the distorted diamond chain (DDC) with ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic frustrated interactions and the trimerized case are investigated, respectively. Our results show the plentiful quantum phases owing to the spin interaction competitions in the model. Meanwhile, by using the transfer-matrix renormalization-group technique, we study the two-site thermal entanglement of the DDC model in the thermodynamic limit for a further understanding of the QPTs.

Classical two-site fidelity and quantum phase transitions in the Ising model and the extended Hubbard model

In this Letter, the classical two-site-ground-state fidelity (CTGF) is exploited to identify quantum phase transitions (QPTs) for the transverse field Ising model (TFIM) and the one-dimensional extended Hubbard model (EHM). Our results show that the CTGF exhibits an abrupt change around the regions of criticality and can be used to identify QPTs in spin and fermionic systems. The method is especially convenient when it is connected with the density-matrix renormalization group (DMRG) algorithm. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Density matrix Loschmidt echo and quantum phase transitions

We introduce the concept of the Loschmidt echo (LE) to the space of the reduced density matrix of spin and fermionic systems to study the density matrix LEs (DMLEs) of the one-dimensional extended Hubbard model and the transverse field Ising model. Our results show that the DMLEs are remarkably influenced by the criticality of the system, and the method is a convenient way to study quantum phase transitions.

Magnetic frustration induced quantum phase transitions in the S=1/2 vertically asymmetric diamond chain

This work was supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program) grant No. G2009CB929300 and the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant Nos. 60521001 and 60776061.

Phase structure and transitions in a poly(methyloctadecylsilane) oligomer

A poly(methyloctadecylsilane) oligomer was synthesized by a typical Wurtz coupling reaction. Upon cooling, three transitions were observed at temperatures of 39.9, 37.5 and 33.9 degreesC at a rate of 2.5 degreesC/min in differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The first transition, with enthalpy change of 0.47 kT/mol and supercooling of 0.2 degreesC, was characteristic of the conformational change in the Si-Si backbone into an all-trans conformation, which was detected by temperature-dependent Fourier transform infrared (FT-FR) spectroscopy. The second and the third transitions with large supercooling were identified as the formation of two-dimensional hexagonal crystal packing and three-dimensional two-chain orthorhombic crystal packing, respectively. The crystal structure was determined by the combination of WAXD and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) experiments. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

The phase transitions of hetero atoms substituted molecular sieves Me-VPI-5(Me=Mg, Ti, Sn, Si) and their influence on spectra structures of Eu(III) ion

The hetero atom substituted aluminophosphate molecular sieves Me-VPI-5(Me = Mgt Ti, Sn, Si) were synthesized hydrothermally. Rare earth ions are originally doped into these microporous materials by aqueous solution ion exchange procedures. The phase transitions of the microporous materials are investigated by high-temperature and high-pressure experimental techniques. The influence of the phase transitions on the rare earth ions' spectral structures is discussed, With the increase of temperature, Eu(II)Mg-VPI-5 is converted into Eu(II)Mg-AIPO(4)-8, then into tridymite phase. The pressure has a notable influence on Eu(II) ion's spectral structures. The spectral structures have changed regularly with the increase of pressure.

AN INFRARED SPECTROSCOPIC STUDY ON THE STRUCTURAL PHASE-TRANSITIONS OF LAURYLAMMONIUM CHLORIDE

Infrared spectroscopy was used to study the structural phase, transitions of laurylammonium chloride in the temperature range from 290 to 365K. It was shown that there is a solid-solid phase transition at 339 K with a pre-transition at 327 K. The infrared spectra indicated that virgin crystals at room temperature form a well-ordered phase with all-trans hydrocarbon chains, and the lengths of N-H...Cl hydrogen bonds are different. The spectra suggested that the gauche conformers begin to appear at temperature above 327 K. The spectra at high temperature over 339 K demonstrated that the interaction between the chains decreases, the partial ''melting'' of the chains is obvious, and the hydrogen bonds (N-H...Cl) have the same lengths. The main transition and pre-transition are mainly assigned to the intramolecular and intermolecular order-disorder changes, respectively.

Frequency-Dependent Phase Transitions in the Coordination of Human Bimanual Tasks

The 2-channel Ellias-Grossberg neural pattern generator of Cohen, Grossberg, and Pribe [1] is shown to simulate data from human bimanual coordination tasks in which anti-phase oscillations at low frequencies spontaneously switch to in-phase oscillations at high frequencies, in-phase oscillations can be performed at both low and high frequencies, phase fluctuations occur at the anti-phase to in-phase transition, and a "seagull effect" of larger errors occurs at intermediate phases.

First- and second-order phase transitions in the adlayer of biadipate on Au(111)

The adsorption of biadipate on Au(111) was studied by cyclic voltammetry and chronocoulometry. The biadipate adlayer undergoes a potential-driven phase transition. It is shown that the phase transition can be either of the first- or second-order depending on the biadipate concentration. At low surfactant concentrations, the first-order transition is characterised by a discontinuity in the charge density-potential curve and by the presence of very sharp peaks in the voltammetric response. At higher concentrations, these peaks are no longer observed but a discontinuity in the capacity curve is still noticeable, in agreement with a second-order transition. © the Owner Societies.

A reactive force field simulation of liquid-liquid phase transitions in phosphorus

A force field model of phosphorus has been developed based on density functional (DF) computations and experimental results, covering low energy forms of local tetrahedral symmetry and more compact (simple cubic) structures that arise with increasing pressure. Rules tailored to DF data for the addition, deletion, and exchange of covalent bonds allow the system to adapt the bonding configuration to the thermodynamic state. Monte Carlo simulations in the N-P-T ensemble show that the molecular (P-4) liquid phase, stable at low pressure P and relatively low temperature T, transforms to a polymeric (gel) state on increasing either P or T. These phase changes are observed in recent experiments at similar thermodynamic conditions, as shown by the close agreement of computed and measured structure factors in the molecular and polymer phases. The polymeric phase obtained by increasing pressure has a dominant simple cubic character, while the polymer obtained by raising T at moderate pressure is tetrahedral. Comparison with DF results suggests that the latter is a semiconductor, while the cubic form is metallic. The simulations show that the T-induced polymerization is due to the entropy of the configuration of covalent bonds, as in the polymerization transition in sulfur. The transition observed with increasing P is the continuation at high T of the black P to arsenic (A17) structure observed in the solid state, and also corresponds to a semiconductor to metal transition. (C) 2004 American Institute of Physics.

Phase transitions in epitaxial Ba0.5Sr0.5TiO3 thin films

Ba0.5Sr0.5TiO3 (BST) thin-film capacitor structures with various thicknesses, (50-1200 nm) and different strain conditions (on lanthanum strontium cobalt oxide La0.5Sr0.5CoO3 and strontium ruthenate SrRuO3 buffer layers) were made using pulsed laser deposition, and characterized by x-ray diffraction. The out-of-plane lattice parameter was followed as a function of temperature within the 100-300 K temperature interval. The phase sequence (cubic-tetragonal-orthorhombic-rhombohedral) known to exist in the bulk analog is shown to be strongly affected by both the stress conditions imposed by the buffer layer and the thickness of the BST film itself. Thus, no phase transition was found for the in-plane compressed BST films. On the stress-free BST films, on the contrary, more phase transitions were observed. It appeared that the complexity of structural phase transitions increased as the film thickness in this system was reduced.