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Mixed-order phase transition in a colloidal crystal.

Ricard Alert1,2, Pietro Tierno3,2,4, Jaume Casademunt3,2

  • 1Departament de Física de la Matèria Condensada, Universitat de Barcelona, 08028 Barcelona, Spain; ricard.alert@fmc.ub.edu.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
|November 22, 2017
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Researchers experimentally realized a novel mixed-order phase transition in a 2D crystal. This transition, induced by a magnetic field, exhibits characteristics of both first-order and second-order transitions, offering new insights into critical phenomena.

Keywords:
colloidal crystalscritical phenomenaphase transitions

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Area of Science:

  • Condensed Matter Physics
  • Statistical Mechanics
  • Materials Science

Background:

  • Mixed-order phase transitions combine features of first-order (discontinuous order parameter) and second-order (critical behavior) transitions.
  • These transitions are theoretically predicted in various systems but lack experimental verification.
  • Understanding mixed-order transitions is crucial for fields ranging from condensed matter to statistical physics.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To analytically predict and experimentally realize a mixed-order equilibrium phase transition.
  • To investigate the behavior of a 2D crystal of paramagnetic colloidal particles under a magnetic field.
  • To provide an experimental platform for studying unconventional phase transitions.

Main Methods:

  • Analytical prediction of a mixed-order phase transition in a 2D colloidal crystal.
  • Experimental realization using paramagnetic colloidal particles subjected to a magnetic field.
  • Analysis of the system's energy landscape, fluctuations, and correlation length at the transition field.

Main Results:

  • A discontinuous solid-solid phase transition was experimentally observed and analytically predicted.
  • At the transition field, the system's energy landscape becomes flat, leading to diverging fluctuations and correlation length.
  • The transition exhibits mean-field critical exponents, consistent with a predicted upper critical dimension.

Conclusions:

  • The study successfully demonstrates the first experimental realization of a mixed-order equilibrium phase transition.
  • The colloidal crystal system serves as a valuable experimental model for probing mixed-order transitions.
  • This work opens avenues for exploring the fundamental physics of systems exhibiting unconventional phase transitions.