Spontaneous Magnetic Transitions and Corresponding Magnetoelastic Properties of Intermetallic Compounds RMn_2Ge_2(R=Gd, Tb and Dy)

The spontaneous magnetic transitions and corresponding magnetoelastic properties of intermetallic compounds RMn2Ge2（R=Gd, Tb and Dy） were investigated by using the X-ray diffraction method and magnetic measurement. The results showed that the compounds experience two magnetic transitions, namely the second-order paramagnetic to antiferromagnetic transition at temperature TN（TN=368, 423 and 443 K for Gd Mn2 Ge2, Tb Mn2 Ge2 and Dy Mn2 Ge2, respectively） and the first-order antiferromagnetic-ferrimagnetic transition at temperature Tt（Tt=96, 80 and 40 K for Gd Mn2 Ge2, Tb Mn2 Ge2 and Dy Mn2 Ge2, respectively） as the temperature decreases. The temperature dependence of the lattice constant a（T） displays a negative magnetoelastic anomaly at the second-order transition point TN and, at the first-order transition Tt, a increases abruptly for Gd Mn2 Ge2 and Tb Mn2 Ge2, Da/a about 10^（-3）. Nevertheless, the lattice constant c almost does not change at these transition points indicating that such magnetoelastic anomalies are mainly contributed by the Mn-sublattice. The transitions of the magnetoelastic properties are also evidenced on the temperature dependence of magnetic susceptibility χ. The first-order transition behavior at Tt is explained by the Kittel mode of exchange inversion.

Exploring multiple phases and first-order phase transitions in Kármán Vortex Street

Kármán Vortex Street, a fascinating phenomenon of fluid dynamics, has intrigued the scientific community for a long time. Many researchers have dedicated their efforts to unraveling the essence of this intriguing flow pattern. Here, we apply the lattice Boltzmann method with curved boundary conditions to simulate flows around a circular cylinder and study the emergence of Kármán Vortex Street using the eigen microstate approach, which can identify phase transition and its order-parameter. At low Reynolds number, there is only one dominant eigen microstate W_(1) of laminar flow. At Re_(c)^(1)= 53.6, there is a phase transition with the emergence of an eigen microstate pair W^(2,3) of pressure and velocity fields. Further at Re_(c)^(2)= 56, there is another phase transition with the emergence of two eigen microstate pairs W^(4,5) and W^(6,7). Using the renormalization group theory of eigen microstate,both phase transitions are determined to be first-order. The two-dimensional energy spectrum of eigen microstate for W^(1), W^(2,3) after Re_(c)^(1), W^(4-7) after Re_(c)^(2) exhibit-5/3 power-law behavior of Kolnogorov's K41 theory. These results reveal the complexity and provide an analysis of the Kármán Vortex Street from the perspective of phase transitions.

Influences of P doping on magnetic phase transition and structure in MnCoSi ribbon

The structure and magnetic properties of MnCoSil_xPx （x = 0.054）.50） are systematically investigated. With P content increasing, the lattice parameter a increases monotonically while both b and c decrease. At the same time, the temperature of metamagnetic transition from a low-temperature non-collinear ferromagnetic state to a high-temperature ferromagnetic state decreases and a new magnetic transition from a higher-magnetization ferromagnetic state to a lower- magnetization ferromagnetic state is observed in each of these compounds for the first time. This is explained by the changes of crystal structure and distance between Mn and Si atoms with the increase of temperature according to the high- temperature XRD result. The metamagnetic transition is found to be a second-order magnetic transition accompanied by a low inversed magnetocaloric effect （1.0 J·kg-1 ·K- 1 at 5 T） with a large temperature span （190 K at 5 T） compared with the scenario of MnCoSi. The changes in the order of metamagnetic transition and structure make P-doped MoCoSi compounds good candidates for the study of magnetoelastic coupling and the modulation of magnetic phase transition.

Metamagnetic transition and reversible magnetocaloric effect in antiferromagnetic DyNiGa compound

Rare-earth(R)-based materials with large reversible magnetocaloric effect(MCE)are attracting much attention as the promising candidates for low temperature magnetic refrigeration.In the present work,the magnetic properties and MCE of DyNiGa compound with TiNiSi-type orthorhombic structure are studied systematically.The DyNiGa undergoes a magnetic transition from antiferromagnetic(AFM)to paramagnetic state with Néel temperature TN=17 K.Meanwhile,it does not show thermal and magnetic hysteresis,revealing the perfect thermal and magnetic reversibility.Moreover,the AFM state can be induced into a ferromagnetic state by a relatively low field,and thus leading to a large reversible MCE,e.g.,a maximum magnetic entropy change(-ΔSM)of 10 J/kg·K is obtained at 18 K under a magnetic field change of 5 T.Consequently,the large MCE without thermal or magnetic hysteresis makes the DyNiGa a competitive candidate for magnetic refrigeration of hydrogen liquefaction.

Precessing Ball Solitons as Self-Organizing Systems during a Phase Transition in a Ferromagnet

Precessing ball solitons (PBS) in a ferromagnet during the first order phase transition is induced by a magnetic field directed along the axis of anisotropy, while the action of the periodic field perpendicular to the main magnetic field has been analyzed. Under these conditions, the characteristics of arising equilibrium PBS are uniquely determined by the frequency of the periodic field, but the solitons with other frequencies are impossible. For such structure, the entropy increase connected with dissipation is compensated by the decrease of the entropy due to the external periodic field. It is shown that the equilibrium PBS are essentially the “self-organizing systems” that can arise spotaneously in a metastable state of ferromagnet.

First-Order Studies of Nanometric Biferroic

Magnetoelectric biferroic nanocomposite with composition 0.5Ni0.5Zn0.5Fe2O4 + 0.5BaTiO3 was synthesized by ceramic technique. The structural and electrical characterizations of the investigated nanocomposite are discussed and reported. The formation of nanosized composite with two separate phases was confirmed by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). The variation of dielectric constant (ε'), dielectric loss factor (ε') and the ac conductivity (σac) of 0.5Ni0.5Zn0.5Fe2O4 + 0.5BaTiO3 was investigated as a function of both frequency and temperature. Thermal hysteresis (first-order transition) was obtained during heating (300 - 830 K) and cooling runs (830 - 300 K). The exact transition temperature and the amount area of the thermal hysteresis depend on applied ac electric field. The delay (lagging) time between heating and cooling processes was esti-mated from the hysteresis loop area versus frequency. The conduction mechanism in the investigated samples was explained according to different models. This study enhances the use of this prepared system in memory applications.

First-Order Quantum Phase Transition for Dicke Model Induced by Atom-Atom Interaction

In this article, we use the spin coherent state transformation and the ground state variational method to theoretically calculate the ground function. In order to consider the influence of the atom-atom interaction on the extended Dicke model's ground state properties, the mean photon number, the scaled atomic population and the average ground energy are displayed. Using the self-consistent field theory to solve the atom-atom interaction, we discover the system undergoes a first-order quantum phase transition from the normal phase to the superradiant phase, but a famous Dicke-type second-order quantum phase transition without the atom-atom interaction. Meanwhile, the atom-atom interaction makes the phase transition point shift to the lower atom-photon collective coupling strength.

First-order phase transition and unexpected rigid rotation mode in hybrid improper ferroelectric(La,Al)co-substituted Ca_(3)Ti_(2)O_(7) ceramics

Ca_(3)Ti_(2)O_(7) with Ruddlesden-Popper structure exhibits the largest polarization among the known hybrid improper ferroelectrics.However,the high Curie temperature impedes the thorough study of phase transition through dielectric characterization.According to the previous theoretical design rule,the Curie temperature can be suppressed by increasing the tolerance factor.So,in the present work,high-quality Ca_(3-x)LaxTi_(2-x)Al_(x)O_(7)(x=0.0,0.1,0.2,0.3)ceramics with increased tolerance factors were successfully prepared.The amplitude of oxygen octahedral tilt mode indeed decreases with increasing tolerance factors,leading to a degeneration of ferroelectric polarization.However,the unexpected rigid rotation mode causes the composition-invariable coercive fields.The Curie temperatures decrease linearly with increasing x and tolerance factors.The variable-temperature dielectric constant confirms first-order improper ferroelectric transitions in Ca_(3)Ti_(2)O_(7)-based ceramics.The results of variable temperature Xray diffraction reveal the coexistence of two-phases below Curie temperature.The present work confidently confirms the first-order improper ferroelectric transition in Ca_(3)Ti_(2)O_(7)-based ceramics by combining results of variable-temperature dielectric response and in-situ X-ray powder diffraction.

Bubble dynamics in a strong first-order quark-hadron transition

We investigate the dynamics of a strong first-order quark-hadron transition driven by cubic interactions via homogeneous bubble nucleation in the Friedberg-Lee model.The one-loop effective thermodynamic potential of the model and the critical bubble profiles have been calculated at different temperatures and chemical potentials.By taking the temperature and the chemical potential as variables,the evolutions of the surface tension,the typical radius of the critical bubble,and the shift in the coarse-grained free energy in the presence of a nucleation bubble are obtained,and the limit on the reliability of the thin-wall approximation is also addressed accordingly.Our results are compared to those obtained for a weak first-order quark-hadron phase transition;in particular,the spinodal decomposition is relevant.

Renormalization-group theory of first-order phase transition dynamics in field-driven scalar model

Through a detailed study of the mean-field approximation, the Gaussian approximation, the perturbation expansion, and the field-theoretic renormalization-group analysis of a φ^3 theory, we show that the instability fixed points of the theory, together with their associated instability exponents, are quite probably relevant to the scaling and universality behavior exhibited by the first-order phase transitions in a field-driven scalar Ca model, below its critical temperature and near the instability points. Finite- time scaling and leading corrections to the scaling are considered. We also show that the instability exponents of the first-order phase transitions are equivalent to those of the Yang-Lee edge singularity, and employ the latter to improve our estimates of the former. The outcomes agree well with existing numerical results.

Energy budget of cosmological first-order phase transition in FLRW background

We study the hydrodynamics of bubble expansion in cosmological first-order phase transition in the Fdedmann-LemMtre- Robertson-Walker （FLRW） background with probe limit. Different from previous studies for fast first-order phase transition in flat background, we find that, for slow first-order phase transition in FLRW background with a given peculiar velocity of the bubble wall, the efficiency factor of energy transfer into bulk motion of thermal fluid is significantly reduced, thus decreasing the previously-thought dominated contribution from sound wave to the stochastic gravitational-wave background.

Gravitational waves from cosmic strings after a first-order phase transition

We study the possibility of probing high scale phase transitions that are inaccessible by LIGO.Our study shows that the stochastic gravitational-wave radiation from cosmic strings that are formed after the first-order phase transition can be detected by space-based interferometers when the phase transition temperature is T_(n)~O(10^(8−11))GeV.

Renormalization group theory for temperature-driven first-order phase transitions in scalar models

We study the scaling and universal behavior of temperature-driven first-order phase transitions in scalar models. These transitions are found to exhibit rich phenomena, though they are controlled by a single complex-conjugate pair of imaginary fixed points of φ3 theory. Scaling theories and renormalization group theories are developed to account for the phenomena, and three universality classes with their own hysteresis exponents are found： a field-like thermal class, a partly thermal class, and a purely thermal class, designated, respectively, as Thermal Classes I, II, and III. The first two classes arise from the opposite limits of the scaling forms proposed and may cross over to each other depending on the temperature sweep rate. They are both described by a massless model and a purely massive model, both of which are equivalent and are derived from φ3 theory via symmetry. Thermal Class III characterizes the cooling transitions in the absence of applied external fields and is described by purely thermal models, which include cases in which the order parameters possess different symmetries and thus exhibit different universality classes. For the purely thermal models whose free energies contain odd-symmetry terms, Thermal Class III emerges only at the mean-field level and is identical to Thermal Class II. Fluctuations change the model into the other two models. Using the extant three- and two- loop results for the static and dynamic exponents for the Yang-Lee edge singularity, respectively, which falls into the same universality class as φ3 theory, we estimate the thermal hysteresis exponents of the various classes to the same precision. Comparisons with numerical results and experiments are briefly discussed.

Effects of magnetic field and hydrostatic pressure on the antiferromagnetic-ferromagnetic transition and magneto-functional properties in Hf_(1-x)Ta_(x)Fe_(2)alloys

In this study,the thermal expansion of Hf_(1-x)Ta_(x)Fe_(2)(x=0.10,0.13,0.15)compounds by adjusting the Ta concentration was successfully regulated.The magnetocaloric properties,hydrostatic pressure affecting the antiferromagnetic-ferromagnetic transition,and magnetostriction in the low magnetic field were studied.TheΔS_(M)values of 3.3 J·(kg-K)^(-1)and 3.6 J·(kg·K)^(-1)were obtained under magnetic fields of 10 kOe and 15 kOe in the Hf_(0.85)Ta_(0.15)Fe_(2),respectively.In the antiferromagnetic-ferromagnetic state transformation process under hydrostatic pressure up to 0.8 GPa,the state temperature does not decrease in a strictly linear manner.Outstanding magnetostrictive properties of 0.12%were obtained at a magnetic field of 10 kOe.This kind of alloy is supposed to be controlled under hydrostatic pressure to obtain good magnetic refrigeration performance and magnetostrictive properties.

磁场对NiMnGa单晶预相变温度的影响

利用应变测量研究了外加恒定磁场对NiMnGa单晶预相变温度的影响,发现外加磁场使预相变温度向低温方向漂移,而且预相变温度漂移的程度与外加磁场的方向有关.依据前人的模型和我们的电子显微镜观察,目前的结果证实预相变过程中存在较强的磁弹相互作用;当外加磁场分别沿晶体的[001]和[010]两个等价的晶轴方向时,在[010]方向上导致的磁弹相互作用更强.

Cr取代亚铁磁性Mn_2Sb_(0.95)In_(0.05)合金的磁及磁热性能

磁制冷是一种利用材料的磁热效应进行制冷的新型制冷技术,相比于传统气体压缩制冷,因其绿色环保、高效节能等优点而备受关注。在众多磁相变合金材料中,人们对Mn_2Sb基亚铁磁相变合金研究甚少。文章研究了Cr取代Mn后亚铁磁性Mn_(2-x)Cr_xSb_(0.95)In_(0.05)(x=0.05,0.09,0.13)合金的磁性和磁热性能。室温XRD数据表明合金在室温附近以四角Cu_2Sb型结构为主相。由于反铁磁中有高磁响应,因此从XRD图谱中能观察到少量的铁磁MnSb杂相。随着温度的降低,在这些合金中,发生了亚铁磁到反铁磁的一级磁致弹性转变。同时,在亚铁磁区域观察到两个自旋重新取向转变。由于反铁磁-亚铁磁的转变过程中磁化强度突变,使得在Mn_(1.91)Cr_(0.09)Sb_(0.95)In_(0.05)合金中在0~10 k Oe的磁场变化中获得高达1.63 J/kg·K的大磁熵变。目前的研究可能有助于研究和开发新的磁性冷材料。

Magnetic hysteresis and refrigeration capacity of Ni-Mn-Ga alloys near Martensitic transformation

This paper studies the magnetic hysteresis and refrigeration capacity of Ni-Mn-Ga alloys in detail during heating and cooling isothermal magnetisation processes. The Ni-Mn-Ga alloys show larger magnetic hysteresis when they trans-form from austenite to martensite, but smaller magnetic hysteresis when they transform from martensite to austenite. This behaviour is independent of either the pure Ni-Mn-Ga alloys or the alloys doped with other elements. Because of the existence of the magnetic hysteresis, the relation between the magnetic entropy change and refrigeration capacity is not simply linear. For practical consideration, magnetocaloric effect of Ni-Mn-Ga alloys should be investigated both on cooling and heating processes.

Sonoluminescence as the PeTa Radiation

In this paper, a model of cavitational luminescence (CL) and sonoluminescence (SL) is developed. The basis of the model is the PeTa (Perel’man-Tatartchenko) effect—a characteristic radiation under first-order phase transitions. The main role is given to the liquid, which is where the cavitation occurs. The evaporation of the liquid and subsequent vapor condensation inside the bubble are responsible for the CL and SL. Apparently, the dissolved gases and other impurities in the liquid are responsible for peaks that appear at the background of the main spectrum. They most likely are excited by a shock wave occurred during cavitation. The model explains the main experimental data. Thus, no mystery, no plasma, no Hollywood.

Sonoluminescence as the PeTa Radiation, Part Two

This paper is a continuation of one published in this journal nine months ago. The two papers present a model of cavitational luminescence (CL), multi-bubble sonoluminescence (MBSL), one-bubble sonoluminescence (OBSL), and laser-induced bubble luminescence (LIBL). The basis of this model is the PeTa (Perel’man-Tatartchenko) effect, a nonequilibrium characteristic radiation under first-order phase transitions, especially vapour condensation. In this model, the main role is given to the liquid, where the evaporation, condensation, flash, and subsequent collapse of bubbles occur. The instantaneous vapour condensation inside the bubble is a reason for the CL/MBSL/OBSL/LIBL. Apparently, the dissolved gases and other impurities in the liquid are responsible for peaks that appear at the background of the main spectrum. They are most likely excited by a shock wave occurred during the collapse. This paper, in contrast to the previous one, presents a slightly expanded model that explains additional experimental data concerning especially the LIBL spectrum. As a result, today we are not aware of any experimental data that would contradict the PeTa model, and we continue to assert that there is no mystery to the CL/MBSL/OBSL/LIBL phenomena, as well as no reason to hope that they can be used for high-temperature chemical reactions, and even more so for a thermonuclear ones.

Magnetic transitions and magnetocaloric effect in MnAs_(0.9)P_(0.1)

The compound MnAs0.9P0.1 exhibits a multistep magnetic order-order transition from a helimagnetic γ-phase with Hα-type magnetic order to a ferromagnetic β-phase at 80 K and then to a helimagnetic α-phase at 203 K. The γ-β transition exhibits the characteristics of a first-order transition with a thermal hysteresis as large as 6 K, while the β-α transition is of second order with a thermal hysteresis smaller than 2 K and without magnetic hysteresis. With these two successive helimagnetism-related transitions, magnetic-entropy changes of -2.1 J/（kg·K） at 203 K for a field change from 0 to 5 T and 0.1 J/（kg·K） at 83 K for a field change from 0 to 1 T are obtained. Investigation of the magnetocaloric effect associated with a transition from Hα-type magnetic order to FM order may open a new route to explore candidates for magnetic refrigeration.