Related papers: On thermoelastic phenomena around orientational or…
We present a minimal Landau theory of plastic-to-crystal phase transitions in which the key components are a multipole-moment order parameter that describes the orientational ordering of the constituent molecules, coupling between such…
A simple description of thermodynamics of DMAAS and DMAGaS ferroelectric crystals by means of Landau expansion is proposed. Conditions of occurrence of phase transitions are established and their temperatures are obtained. The influence of…
The study of critical phenomena and phase transitions is an important part of modern condensed matter physics. In this regard, the phenomenological Landau theory has been extraordinarily useful. Hereby we present an alternative theoretical…
In liquid-crystalline elastomers, the nematic order parameter and the induced strain vary smoothly across the isotropic-nematic transition, without the expected first-order discontinuity. To investigate this smooth variation, we measure the…
We report a detailed investigation of the elastic properties of Rb4LiH3(SO4)4 measured as a function of temperature and pressure. Rb4LiH3(SO4)4 is known to show a 4 - 2 ferroelastic phase transition at Tc = 134 K. In order to clarify the…
We develop a Landau theory for bend flexoelectricity in liquid crystals of bent-core molecules. In the nematic phase of the model, the bend flexoelectric coefficient increases as we reduce the temperature toward the nematic to polar phase…
Phase coexistence phenomena have been intensively studied in strongly correlated materials where several ordered states simultaneously occur or compete. Material properties critically depend on external parameters and boundary conditions,…
We study the time evolution of thermodynamic observables that characterise the dissipative nature of thermal relaxation after an instantaneous temperature quench. Combining tools from stochastic thermodynamics and large-deviation theory, we…
Temperature-dependent crystallographic and magnetic studies on stoichiometric single crystals of LiCu2O2 are reported. The magnetic properties are similar to earlier findings demonstrating antiferromagnetic ordering below 25 K. Evidence of…
We present a phenomenological analysis of the magnetoelastic properties of CeCo$_{0.85}$Fe$_{0.15}$Si at temperatures close to the N\'eel transition temperature $T_N$. Using a Landau functional we provide a qualitative description of the…
The Landau theory of phase transitions has been re-examined under the framework of a modified mean field theory in ferroelectrics. By doing so, one can see that there are two atomic movements involved in the ferroelectric phase transition;…
First-principles density-functional calculations within the local-density approximation and the pseudopotential approach are used to study and characterize the ferroelastic phase transition in calcium chloride (CaCl_2). In accord with…
I discuss the analytic structure of thermodynamic quantities for complex values of thermodynamic variables within Landau theory. In particular, the singularities connected with phase transitions of second order, first order and cross over…
The properties of materials near structural phase transitions are often successfully described in the framework of Landau theory. While the focus is usually on phase transitions, which are induced by temperature changes approaching a…
We report an ultrasonic investigation of the elastic moduli on a single crystal of hexagonal YMnO_3 as a function of temperature. Stiffening anomalies in the antiferromagnetic N\'eel state below T_N = 72.4 K are observed on all the four…
The structural phase transition in hexagonal BaMnO$_3$ occurring at $T_c$=130 K was studied in ceramic samples using electron and X-ray diffraction, second harmonic generation as well as by dielectric and lattice dynamic spectroscopies. The…
We propose a finite temperature Landau theory that describes competing orders and interlayer tunneling in cuprate superconductors as an important extension to a corresponding theory at zero temperature [Nature {\bf 428}, 53 (2004)], where…
The Landau theory of phase transitions has been productively applied to phase transitions that involve rotational symmetry breaking, such as the transition from an isotropic fluid to a nematic liquid crystal. It even can be applied to the…
A Landau theory is presented for the structural transition of electrically stabilized colloidal crystals under shear. The model suggests that a structural transition from an ordered layered colloidal crystal into a disordered structure…
Static and dynamical properties of elastic phase transitions under the influence of short--range defects, which locally increase the transition temperature, are investigated. Our approach is based on a Ginzburg--Landau theory for…