The Negative Thermal Expansion Property of NdMnO_(3) Based on Pores Effect and Phase Transition

A novel negative thermal expansion(NTE) material NdMnO_(3) was synthesized by solid-state method at 1 523 K. The crystal structure, phase transition, pores effect and negative expansion properties of NdMnO_(3) were investigated by variable temperature X-ray diffraction(XRD), scanning electron microscope(SEM) and variable temperature Raman spectra. The compound exhibits NTE properties in the orderly O' phase crystal structure. When the temperature is from 293 to 759 K, the ceramic NdMnO_(3) shows negative thermal expansion of-4.7×10^(-6)/K. As temperature increases, the ceramic NdMnO_(3) presents NTE property range from 759 to 1 007 K. The average linear expansion coefficient is-18.88×10^(-6)/K. The physical mechanism of NTE is discussed and clarified through experiments.

Multi-functional photonic spin Hall effect sensor controlled by phase transition

Photonic spin Hall effect(PSHE), as a novel physical effect in light–matter interaction, provides an effective metrological method for characterizing the tiny variation in refractive index(RI). In this work, we propose a multi-functional PSHE sensor based on VO_(2), a material that can reveal the phase transition behavior. By applying thermal control, the mutual transformation into different phase states of VO_(2) can be realized, which contributes to the flexible switching between multiple RI sensing tasks. When VO_(2) is insulating, the ultrasensitive detection of glucose concentrations in human blood is achieved. When VO_(2) is in a mixed phase, the structure can be designed to distinguish between the normal cells and cancer cells through no-label and real-time monitoring. When VO_(2) is metallic, the proposed PSHE sensor can act as an RI indicator for gas analytes. Compared with other multi-functional sensing devices with the complex structures, our design consists of only one analyte and two VO_(2) layers, which is very simple and elegant. Therefore, the proposed VO_(2)-based PSHE sensor has outstanding advantages such as small size, high sensitivity, no-label, and real-time detection, providing a new approach for investigating tunable multi-functional sensors.

Recension of boron nitride phase diagram based on high-pressure and high-temperature experiments

Cubic boron nitride and hexagonal boron nitride are the two predominant crystalline structures of boron nitride.They can interconvert under varying pressure and temperature conditions.However,this transformation requires overcoming significant potential barriers in dynamics,which poses great difficulty in determining the c-BN/h-BN phase boundary.This study used high-pressure in situ differential thermal measurements to ascertain the temperature of h-BN/c-BN conversion within the commonly used pressure range(3-6 GPa)for the industrial synthesis of c-BN to constrain the P-T phase boundary of h-BN/c-BN in the pressure-temperature range as much as possible.Based on the analysis of the experimental data,it is determined that the relationship between pressure and temperature conforms to the following equation:P=a+1/bT.Here,P denotes the pressure(GPa)and T is the temperature(K).The coefficients are a=-3.8±0.8 GPa and b=229.8±17.1 GPa/K.These findings call into question existing high-pressure and high-temperature phase diagrams of boron nitride,which seem to overstate the phase boundary temperature between c-BN and h-BN.The BN phase diagram obtained from this study can provide critical temperature and pressure condition guidance for the industrial synthesis of c-BN,thus optimizing synthesis efficiency and product performance.

Topological phase transition in compressed van der Waals superlattice heterostructure BiTeCl/HfTe_(2)

Based on first-principles calculations,we investigate the electronic band structures and topological properties of heterostructure BiTeCl/HfTe_(2) under c-direction strain.In the primitive structure,this material undergoes a phase transition from an insulator with a narrow indirect gap to a metal by strong spin-orbital coupling.When strain effect is considered,band inversion at time-reversal invariant point Z is responsible for the topological phase transition.These nontrivial topologies are caused by two different types of band crossings.The observable topological surface states in(110)surface also support that this material experiences topological phase transition twice.The layered heterostructure with van der Waals force provides us with a new desirable platform upon which to control topological phase transition and construct topological superconductors.

A Future Life of Binary Phase Diagrams

The article raises the question of what to do with one of the main achievements of metal science in recent years—binary phase diagrams. These diagrams play a key role in the science of alloys and therefore their reliability must be complete. However, the discovery of the “ordering-separation” phase transition, which showed that in binary alloys at certain temperatures the sign of the chemical interatomic interaction changes (and, consequently, the microstructure changes), forces us to reconsider our ideas about those areas. Currently, these areas are designated on diagrams as areas of a “disordered solid solution.” This article proposes, using transmission electron microscopy, to study all the so-called solid solution regions, and apply the results obtained to the studied regions of the phase diagram.

Pressure effect on magnetic phase transition and spin-glass-like behavior of GdCo_2B_2

We systematically investigate the effect of pressure on the magnetic properties of GdCo2B2 on the basis of alternating current（AC） susceptibility,AC heat capacity and electrical resistivity measurements under pressures up to 2.2 GPa.A detailed magnetic phase diagram under pressure is determined.GdCo2B2 exhibits three anomalies that apparently reflect magnetic phase transitions,respectively,at temperatures TC= 20.5 K,T1= 18.0 K and TN= 11.5 K under ambient pressure.Under pressures up to 2.2 GPa,these anomalies are observed to slightly increase at TCand T1,and they coincide with each other above 1.6 GPa.Conversely,they decrease at TN and disappear under pressures higher than 1.4 GPa.The results indicate that the low-temperature magnetic phases can be easily suppressed by pressure.Moreover,the spin-glass-like behavior of GdCo2B2 is examined in terms of magnetization,aging effect and frequency dependence of AC susceptibility.A separation between the zero-field-cooled（ZFC） and field-cooled（FC） magnetization curves becomes evident at a low magnetic field of 0.001 T.A long-time relaxation behavior is observed at 4 K.The freezing temperature Tfincreases with frequency increasing.

Quantum phase transition and Coulomb blockade effect in triangular quantum dots with interdot capacitive and tunnel couplings

The quantum phase transition and the electronic transport in a triangular quantum dot system are investigated using the numerical renormalization group method.We concentrate on the interplay between the interdot capacitive coupling V and the interdot tunnel coupling t.For small t,three dots form a local spin doublet.As t increases,due to the competition between V and t,there exist two first-order transitions with phase sequence spin-doublet-magnetic frustration phase-orbital spin singlet.When t is absent,the evolutions of the total charge on the dots and the linear conductance are of the typical Coulomb-blockade features with increasing gate voltage.While for sufficient t,the antiferromagnetic spin correlation between dots is enhanced,and the conductance is strongly suppressed for the bonding state is almost doubly occupied.

Tuning Martensitic Phase Transition by Non-Magnetic Atom Vacancy in MnCoGe Alloys and Related Giant Magnetocaloric Effect

The effects of non-magnetic atom vacancy on structural, martensitic phase transitions and the corresponding magnetocMoric effect in MnCoGel-x alloys are investigated using x-ray diffraction and magnetic measurements. The introduction of non-magnetic atom vacancy leads to the decrease of the martensitic transition temperature and realizes a temperature window where magnetic and martensitic phase transitions can be tuned together. Moreover, the giant magnetocaloric effect accompanied with the coupled magnetic-structural transition is ob- tained. It is observed that the peak values of magnetic entropy change of MnCoGeo.97 are about -13.9, -35.1 and -47.4J.kg-1K-1 for △H = 2, 5, 7T, respectively.

Chiral Magnetic Effect and Chiral Phase Transition

We study the influence of the chiral phase transition on the chiral magnetic effect. The azimuthal charge-particle correlations as functions of the temperature are calculated. It is found that there is a pronounced cusp in the correlations as the temperature reaches its critical value for the QCD phase transition. It is predicted that there will be a drastic suppression of the charge-particle correlations as the collision energy in RHIC decreases to below a critical value. We show then the azimuthal charge-particle correlations can be the signal to identify the occurrence of the QCD phase transitions in RHIC energy scan experiments.

Effects of Ni addition on the order-disorder transitions of Fe-Pt intermetallic compounds:An experimental study on Fe-Ni-Pt phase diagrams

The Fe-Pt based intermetallic compounds exhibit good chemical stability and unique magnetic proper-ties,where Ni is an important additional element to optimize the magnetic properties or obtain the outstanding catalytic performances of the Fe-Pt based alloys.Knowledge of how Ni addition affects the order-disorder transitions of the Fe-Pt intermetallics is thus necessary;however,the related information is limited.Therefore,in this work,the phase diagrams of the Fe-Ni-Pt system were experimentally in-vestigated,and as a result,the isothermal sections of the Fe-Ni-Pt system at 600 and 900℃,as well as the vertical sections of Fe_(80)Ni_(20)-Pt_(80)Ni_(20)and Fe_(50)Pt_(50)-Ni_(50)Pt_(50)were constructed.Based on these re-sults,the influences of Ni addition on the crystal stabilities and phase transformations of the ordered Fe-Pt intermetallics have been well described.The results show that the L1_(0)-FePt and L1_(0)-NiPt phases form a ternary continuous solid solution of L1_(0)-(Fe,Ni)Pt,whereas Ni can dissolve in the L1_(2)-Fe_(3)Pt and L1_(2)-FePt_(3)phases as high as 57.0 at.%and 26.0 at.%at 600℃,respectively.The selective occupancy of Ni atoms has been predicted,which should depend on the alloy composition.For both the L1_(0)-(Fe,Ni)Pt and L1_(2)-FePt_(3)phases,when Pt contents are less than their stoichiometric values,Ni atoms will preferentially occupy the Pt sublattice,forming as many nearest-neighbor Fe-Pt bonds as possible.All these results can correlate the alloy compositions,annealing temperatures and crystal structures to both magnetic and catalytic properties,thus providing a basis for optimizing the Fe-Ni-Pt alloys towards enhanced magnetic or catalytic performances.

Phase diagrams in mixed spin-3/2 and spin-2 Ising system with two alternative layers within the effective-field theory

The phase diagrams in the mixed spin-3/2 and spin-2 Ising system with two alternative layers on a honeycomb lattice are investigated and discussed by the use of the effective-field theory with correlations. The interaction of the nearest-neighbour spins of each layer is taken to be positive （ferromagnetic interaction） and the interaction of the adjacent spins of the nearest-neighbour layers is considered to be either positive or negative （ferromagnetic or antiferromagnetic interaction）. The temperature dependence of the layer magnetizations of the system is examined to characterize the nature （continuous or discontinuous） of the phase transitions and obtain the phase transition temperatures. The system exhibits both second- and first-order phase transitions besides triple point （TP）, critical end point （E）, multicritical point （A）, isolated critical point （C） and reentrant behaviour depending on the interaction parameters. We have also studied the temperature dependence of the total magnetization to find the compensation points, as well as to determine the type of behaviour, and N-type behaviour in Neel classification nomenclature existing in the system. The phase diagrams are constructed in eight different planes and it is found that the system also presents the compensation phenomena depending on the sign of the bilinear exchange interactions.

Ground-State Phase Diagram of Transverse Spin-2 Ising Model with Longitudinal Crystal-Field

The transverse spin-2 Ising ferromagnetic model with a longitudinal crystal-field is studied within the mean-field theory based on Bogoliubov inequality for the Gibbs free energy. The ground-state phase diagram and the tricritical point are obtained in the transverse field Ω/ zJ-longitudinal crystal D / zJ field plane. We find that there are the first order-order phase transitions in a very small range of D /zJ besides the usual first order-disorder phase transitions and the second order-disorder phase transitions,

Effects of grinding-induced grain boundary and interfaces on electrical transportation and structure phase transition in ZnSe under high pressure

Interface and scale effects are the two most important factors which strongly affect the structure and the properties of nano-/micro-crystals under pressure.We conduct an experiment under high pressure in situ alternating current impedance to elucidate the effects of interface on the structure and electrical transport behavior of two Zn Se samples with different sizes obtained by physical grinding.The results show that（i） two different-sized Zn Se samples undergo the same phase transitions from zinc blend to cinnabar-type phase and then to rock salt phase;（ii） the structural transition pressure of the859-nm Zn Se sample is higher than that of the sample of 478 nm,which indicates the strong scale effect.The pressure induced boundary resistance change is obtained by fitting the impedance spectrum,which shows that the boundary conduction dominates the electrical transport behavior of Zn Se in the whole experimental pressure range.By comparing the impedance spectra of two different-sized Zn Se samples at high pressure,we find that the resistance of the 478-nm Zn Se sample is lower than that of the 859-nm sample,which illustrates that the sample with smaller particle size has more defects which are due to physical grinding.

Dynamic phase transition of ferroelectric nanotube described by a spin-1/2 transverse Ising model

The dynamic phase transition properties for ferroelectric nanotube under a spin-1/2 transverse Ising model are studied under the effective field theory(EFT)with correlations.The temperature effects on the pseudo-spin systems are unveiled in three-dimensional(3-D)and two-dimensional(2-D)phase diagrams.Moreover,the dynamic behaviors of exchange interactions on the 3-D and 2-D phase transitions under high temperature are exhibited.The results present that it is hard to obtain pure ferroelectric phase under high temperature;that is,the vibration of orderly pseudo-spins cannot be eliminated completely.

Structural phase transition, precursory electronic anomaly, and strong-coupling superconductivity in quasi-skutterudite (Sr1-xCax)3Ir4Sn13 and Ca3Rh4Sn13

The interplay between superconductivity and structural phase transition has attracted enormous interest in recent years. For example, in Fe-pnictide high temperature superconductors, quantum fluctuations in association with structural phase transition have been proposed to lead to many novel physical properties and even the superconductivity itself. Here we report a finding that the quasi-skutterudite superconductors （Sr1-xCax）3Ir4Sn13 （x = 0, 0.5, 1） and Ca3Rh4Snl3 show some unusual properties similar to the Fe-pnictides, through 119Sn nuclear magnetic resonance （NMR） measurements. In （Sr1-xCax）3Ir4Sn13, the NMR linewidth increases below a temperature T＊ that is higher than the structural phase transition temperature Ts. The spin-lattice relaxation rate （1/T1 ） divided by temperature （T）, 1/TI T and the Knight shift K increase with decreasing T down to T＊, but start to decrease below T＊, and followed by more distinct changes at Ts. In contrast, none of the anomalies is observed in Ca3Rh4Sn13 that does not undergo a structural phase transition. The precursory phenomenon above the structural phase transition resembles that occurring in Fe-pnictides. In the superconducting state of Ca3Ir4Sn13, 1/T1 decays as exp（-△/kBT） with a large gap △ = 2.21kBTc, yet without a Hebel-Slichter coherence peak, which indicates strong-coupling superconductivity. Our results provide new insight into the relationship between superconductivity and the electronic-structure change associated with structural phase transition.

Phase Diagram of Transverse Spin-2 Ising Model with Longitudinal Crystal Field

The transverse spin-2 Ising ferromagnetic model with a longitudinal crystal field is studied within themean-field theory.The phase diagrams and magnetization curves are obtained by diagonalizing the Hamiltonian H_i ofthe Ising system numerically,and the first order-order phase transitions,the first order-disorder phase transitions,andthe second-order phase transitions are discussed in details.Reentrant phenomena occur when the value of the transversefield is not zero and the reentrant diagram is given.

Numeric and Analytic Investigation on Phase Diagrams and Phasetransitions of the ν = 2/3 Bilayer Fractional Quantum Hall Systems

The phase diagrams and phase transitions of a typical bilayer fractional quantum Hall (QH) system with filling factor ν = 2/3 at the layer balanced point are investigated theoretically by finite size exact-diagonalization calculations and an exactly solvable model. We find some basic features essentially different from the bilayer integer QH systems at ν = 2, reflecting the special characteristics of the fractional QH systems. The degeneracy of the ground states occurs depending on the difference between intralayer and interlayer Coulomb energies, when interlayer tunneling energy (ΔSAS) gets close to zero. The continuous transitions of the finite size systems between the spin-polarized and spin-unpolarized phases are determined by the competition between the Zeeman energy (ΔZ) and the electron Coulomb energy, and are almost not affected by ΔSAS.

QCD phase diagram with the improved Polyakov loop effective potential

We report our recent progress on the QCD phase structure.We explore the properties of quark–gluon matter in the improved Polyakov–Nambu–Jona–Lasinio(PNJL)model by introducing a chemical potential-dependent Polyakov loop potential.This treatment effectively reflects the quantum backreaction of matter sector to glue sector at nonzero chemical potential.Compared with the original PNJL model,a superiority of the improved PNJL model is that it can effectively describe the confinement–deconfinement transition at low temperature and high density.And the QCD phase diagram will be modified to a certain degree if the strength of the quantum backreaction of matter sector to glue sector is strong.One evident variation is that the region of quarkyonic phase will be greatly reduced in the improved PNJL model.This means that the modification to the Polyakov loop potential with the chemical potential dependence is possibly a significant improvement in exploring the full QCD phase structure.

A tetragonal tungsten bronze-type photocatalyst:Ferro-paraelectric phase transition and photocatalysis

Although ferroelectrics have potential applications in photocatalysis due to their highly efficient charge separation, their mechanism of charge separation is still unknown. A ferroelectric Sr0.7Ba0.3Nb2O6 （SBN‐70） semiconductor with a low ferro‐paraelectric phase transition （65℃） was studied. The photocatalytic activity for H2 production by ferroelectric and paraelectric SBN‐70 was examined. The spontaneous polarization in the ferroelectric phase strongly affected the photocata‐lytic performance and parallel ferroelectric domains significantly promoted photogenerated charge separation to result in better photocatalytic H2 production. This knowledge provides an important basis for the fabrication of ferroelectric photocatalysts with improved charge separation ability.

Influence of high-pressure heat treatment on magnetocaloric effects and magnetic phase transition in single crystal Gd_(3)Ga_5O_(12)

The magnetic properties and magnetic phase transition critical behavior of Gd_(3)Ga_5O_(12)single crystals subjected to high-pressure heat treatment were investigated.The results show that high-pressure heat treatment reduces the Curie temperature and magnetization of the sample.Under a magnetic field change of 5 T,the maximum isothermal magnetic entropy of the sample is approximately 19.73 J/(kg·K).High-pressure heat treatment increases the phase transition temperature range and leads to an increase in the magnetic refrigeration power.Both Gd_(3)Ga_(5)O_(12)single crystals and the high-pressure heat-treated sample undergo a second-order phase transition.The critical behavior of the samples aligns with the mean field model acquired via critical model fitting.This indicates that the samples exhibit long-range exchange interactions in the system near the Curie temperature.Thus,this material can be used as a magnetic refrigerant for low-temperature applications.