Search results for "Phase transition"
showing 10 items of 1281 documents
Continuum Monte Carlo simulation of phase transitions in rod-like molecules at surfaces
1994
Stiff rod-like chain molecules with harmonic bond length potentials and trigonometric bond angle potentials are used to model Langmuir monolayers at high densities. One end of the rod-like molecules is strongly bound to a flat two-dimensional substrate which represents the air-water interface. A ground-state analysis is performed which suggests phase transitions between phases with and without collective uniform tilt. Large-scale off-lattice Monte Carlo simulations over a wide temperature range show in addition to the tilting transition the presence of a strongly constrained melting transition at high temperatures. The latter transition appears to be related to two-dimensional melting of th…
Elastic properties, structures and phase transitions in model colloids
2004
The nature of the melting transition for a system of hard discs with translational degrees of freedom in two spatial dimensions has been analysed by a combination of computer simulation methods and a finite size scaling technique. The behaviour of the system is consistent with the predictions of the Kosterlitz–Thouless–Halperin–Nelson–Young (KTHNY) theory. The structural and elastic properties of binary colloidal mixtures in two and three spatial dimensions are discussed as well as those of colloidal systems with quenched point impurities. Hard and soft discs in external periodic (light-) fields show rich phase diagrams including freezing and melting transitions when the density of the syst…
Statistical properties of the eigenvalue spectrum of the three-dimensional Anderson Hamiltonian
1993
A method to describe the metal-insulator transition (MIT) in disordered systems is presented. For this purpose the statistical properties of the eigenvalue spectrum of the Anderson Hamiltonian are considered. As the MIT corresponds to the transition between chaotic and nonchaotic behavior, it can be expected that the random matrix theory enables a qualitative description of the phase transition. We show that it is possible to determine the critical disorder in this way. In the thermodynamic limit the critical point behavior separates two different regimes: one for the metallic side and one for the insulating side.
Ground-state fidelity and bipartite entanglement in the Bose-Hubbard model.
2007
We analyze the quantum phase transition in the Bose-Hubbard model borrowing two tools from quantum-information theory, i.e. the ground-state fidelity and entanglement measures. We consider systems at unitary filling comprising up to 50 sites and show for the first time that a finite-size scaling analysis of these quantities provides excellent estimates for the quantum critical point.We conclude that fidelity is particularly suited for revealing a quantum phase transition and pinning down the critical point thereof, while the success of entanglement measures depends on the mechanisms governing the transition.
Influence of semiconducting electrodes on properties of thin ferroelectric films
2005
The influence of semiconducting electrodes on the properties of thin ferroelectric films is considered within the framework of the phenomenological Ginzburg-Landau theory. The contribution of the electric field produced by charges in the electrodes allowing for the screening length of the carriers is included in the functional of the free energy and so in the Euler-Lagrange equation for the film's polarization. Application of the variational method to the solution of this equation allows the transformation of the free energy functional into a conventional type of free energy with renormalized coefficients. The obtained dependence of the coefficients on the film thickness, temperature, elect…
The influence of topological phase transition on the superfluid density of overdoped copper oxides
2017
We show that a topological quantum phase transition, generating flat bands and altering Fermi surface topology, is a primary reason for the exotic behavior of the overdoped high-temperature superconductors represented by $\rm La_{2-x}Sr_xCuO_4$, whose superconductivity features differ from what is described by the classical Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer theory [J.I. Bo\^zovi\'c, X. He, J. Wu, and A. T. Bollinger, Nature 536, 309 (2016)]. We demonstrate that 1) at temperature $T=0$, the superfluid density $n_s$ turns out to be considerably smaller than the total electron density; 2) the critical temperature $T_c$ is controlled by $n_s$ rather than by doping, and is a linear function of the $n_s$…
Role of image charges in ionic liquid confined between metallic interfaces.
2020
The peculiar properties of ionic liquids in confinement have not only become essential for energy storage, catalysis and tribology, but still pose fundamental questions. Recently, an anomalous liquid-solid phase transition has been observed in atomic force microscopy experiments for 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate ([BMIM][BF4]), the transition being more pronounced for metallic surfaces. Image charges have been suggested as the key element driving the anomalous freezing. Using atomistic molecular dynamics simulations, we investigate the impact of image charges on structure, dynamics and thermodynamics of [BMIM][BF4] confined between gold electrodes. Our results not only unveil…
Lifetime measurements of excited states in $^{169,171,173}$Os: Persistence of anomalous $B(E2)$ ratios in transitional rare earth nuclei in the prese…
2021
International audience; Lifetimes of low-lying excited states in the νi13/2+ bands of the neutron-deficient osmium isotopes 169,171,173Os have been measured for the first time using the recoil-distance Doppler shift and recoil-isomer tagging techniques. An unusually low value is observed for the ratio B(E2;21/2+→17/2+)/B(E2;17/2+→13/2+) in 169Os, similar to the “anomalously” low values of the ratio B(E2;41+→21+)/B(E2;21+→0gs+) previously observed in several transitional rare-earth nuclides with even numbers of neutrons and protons, including the neighbouring 168,170Os. Furthermore, the evolution of B(E2;21/2+→17/2+)/B(E2;17/2+→13/2+) with increasing neutron number in the odd-mass isotopic c…
Perovskite solar cells employing organic charge-transport layers
2013
Thin-film photovoltaics play an important role in the quest for clean renewable energy. Recently, methylammonium lead halide perovskites were identified as promising absorbers for solar cells(1). In the three years since, the performance of perovskite-based solar cells has improved rapidly to reach efficiencies as high as 15%(1-10). To date, all high-efficiency perovskite solar cells reported make use of a (mesoscopic) metal oxide, such as Al2O3, TiO2, or ZrO2, which requires a high-temperature sintering process. Here, we show that methylammonium lead iodide perovskite layers, when sandwiched between two thin organic charge-transporting layers, also lead to solar cells with high power-conve…
Dynamical coexistence in moderately polydisperse hard-sphere glasses
2020
We perform extensive numerical simulations of a paradigmatic model glass former, the hard-sphere fluid with 10% polydispersity. We sample from the ensemble of trajectories with fixed observation time, whereby single trajectories are generated by event-driven molecular dynamics. We show that these trajectories can be characterized in terms of the local structure, and we find a dynamical-structural (active-inactive) phase transition between two dynamical phases: one dominated by liquidlike trajectories with a low degree of local order and one dominated by glassylike trajectories with a high degree of local order. We show that both phases coexist and are separated by a spatiotemporal interface…