Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:
http://hdl.handle.net/2445/118933
Title: | Mixed-order phase transition in a colloidal crystal |
Author: | Alert Zenón, Ricard Tierno, Pietro Casademunt i Viader, Jaume |
Keywords: | Transformacions de fase (Física estadística) Fenòmens crítics (Física) Col·loides Phase transformations (Statistical physics) Critical phenomena (Physics) Colloids |
Issue Date: | 5-Dec-2017 |
Publisher: | National Academy of Sciences |
Abstract: | Mixed-order phase transitions display a discontinuity in the order parameter like first-order transitions yet feature critical behavior like second-order transitions. Such transitions have been predicted for a broad range of equilibrium and nonequilibrium systems, but their experimental observation has remained elusive. Here, we analytically predict and experimentally realize a mixed-order equilibrium phase transition. Specifically, a discontinuous solid-solid transition in a 2D crystal of paramagnetic colloidal particles is induced by a magnetic field HH. At the transition field HsHs, the energy landscape of the system becomes completely flat, which causes diverging fluctuations and correlation length ξ∝|H2−H2s|−1/2ξ∝|H2−Hs2|−1/2. Mean-field critical exponents are predicted, since the upper critical dimension of the transition is du=2du=2. Our colloidal system provides an experimental test bed to probe the unconventional properties of mixed-order phase transitions. |
Note: | Versió postprint del document publicat a: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1712584114 |
It is part of: | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America - PNAS, 2017, vol. 114, num. 49, p. 12906-12909 |
URI: | http://hdl.handle.net/2445/118933 |
Related resource: | https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1712584114 |
ISSN: | 0027-8424 |
Appears in Collections: | Articles publicats en revistes (Física de la Matèria Condensada) Publicacions de projectes de recerca finançats per la UE |
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