向列相液晶由外场引起的相变

利用一刚性液晶分子简化模型，将分子问相互作用抽象为棒与棒间相互作用的叠加，并考虑到外场的作用，得到系统的相图．结果表明，由于外场的诱导作用，对于单轴性分子，系统可在较高温度下诱导出准单轴相．增加分子的双轴性，可使系统在较高温度下诱导出准双轴相，降低温度，系统连续地进入双轴相．     

磁场调制下液晶指向矢偏转特性的研究

液晶具有独特的物理化学特性,体现电、磁各向异性,且光学上类似单轴晶体。当对液晶体系施加磁场,液晶指向矢将随着磁场的大小而发生偏转。利用液晶连续体弹性理论模型,研究了沿面排列的向列相液晶分子在外磁场作用下的光学调制效应,通过差分法数值模拟液晶分子指向矢的偏转特性,并对液晶磁致双折射效应进行了分析研究,为更好地研究液晶型偏振光调制器提供理论基础。     

Tristable nematic liquid-crystal device using micropatterned surface alignment

It has long been appreciated that liquid-crystal (LC) devices in which the LC molecules adopt multiple stable orientations could drastically reduce the power consumption required for high-information-content displays. But for the commonly used nematic LCs, which are intrinsically uniaxial in symmetry, no industrially feasible multi-stable LC device has been realized. Recently we demonstrated how bistability can be robustly engineered into a nematic LC device, by patterning a substrate with an orientational chequerboard pattern that enforces orthogonal LC alignment in neighbouring square domains. As a result of the four-fold symmetry of the pattern, the two diagonal axes of the chequerboard become equally stable macroscopic orientations. Here we extend this symmetry approach to obtain a tristable surface-aligned nematic LC. A microscopic pattern exhibiting six-fold symmetry is inscribed on a polyimide surface using the stylus of an atomic force microscope. The hexagonal symmetry of the microscopic orientational domains in turn gives rise to three stable macroscopic LC orientations, which are mutually switchable by an in-plane electric field. The resulting switching mode is surface driven, and hence should be compatible with demanding flexible display applications.     

四阶耦合能对半无限液晶界面特性的影响

应用Fukuda锚泊能描述液晶与界面的相互作用,即将Fukuda公式转变为序参数的表示式,它与RP(Rapini-Papoular)公式的序参数表示式比较多了四阶耦合能项;然后,讨论四阶耦合能的存在对液晶的相变及界面润湿的影响. 结果表明:四阶耦合能是负能量,它能降低界面液晶的相变温度,但没有改变其他参量对相变的影响;在界面润湿方面,四阶耦合能使界面的paranematic润湿的相图发生变化.     

磁性超晶格的静磁能和磁相图的唯像理论研究

计算了包含不同自旋取向的单畴粒子具有短程交换相互作用能,各向异性能及长程偶极相互作用能的磁性超晶格的静磁能,利用能面图和局域能量极小模型得到了磁相图和磁滞回线,研究了有限尺寸和温度效应,计算结果较好解释了在超薄磁性薄膜中观察到的两种磁相（磁化强度平行和垂直于薄膜平面）的转变行为。     

Water-driven structure transformation in nanoparticles at room temperature

The thermodynamic behaviour of small particles differs from that of the bulk material by the free energy term gammaA--the product of the surface (or interfacial) free energy and the surface (or interfacial) area. When the surfaces of polymorphs of the same material possess different interfacial free energies, a change in phase stability can occur with decreasing particle size. Here we describe a nanoparticle system that undergoes structural changes in response to changes in the surface environment rather than particle size. ZnS nanoparticles (average diameter 3 nm) were synthesized in methanol and found to exhibit a reversible structural transformation accompanying methanol desorption, indicating that the particles readily adopt minimum energy structural configurations. The binding of water to the as-formed particles at room temperature leads to a dramatic structural modification, significantly reducing distortions of the surface and interior to generate a structure close to that of sphalerite (tetrahedrally coordinated cubic ZnS). These findings suggest a route for post-synthesis control of nanoparticle structure and the potential use of the nanoparticle structural state as an environmental sensor. Furthermore, the results imply that the structure and reactivity of nanoparticles at planetary surfaces, in interplanetary dust and in the biosphere, will depend on both particle size and the nature of the surrounding molecules.     

磁流变液相变研究

基于简单偶极子模型计算磁流变液体系的自由能，考虑了体系中粒子的渗透压，研究磁流变液的液固相变.结果发现当外加磁场超过一临界值时，体系发生由液相向固相的转变，同时温度变化也引起磁流变液的相变.     

联苯类液晶单体及其聚合物的合成、结构与性能

合成了4种液晶单体M1~M4和对应的聚合物P1~P4.所合成的单体及聚合物的结构与液晶性能通过了FT-IR,DSC,TGA,POM和XRD的表征.研究表明,单体M1和M2呈现互变向列相,M3呈现向列相和近晶A(SA)相、近晶C(SC)相和近晶B(SB)相,M4呈现向列相和单变SA相、SC相和SB相;聚合物P1和P2呈现向列相,P3和P4呈现SA相和向列相.末端为乙氧基的单体和聚合物比末端为乙基的单体和聚合物具有较高的熔点(tm)、玻璃化温度(tg)和液晶清亮点(ti).此外,端基柔性较好的化合物倾向于形成近晶相.聚合物P1~P4具有宽的液晶相温度范围和高的热稳定性.     

Demixing in simple fluids induced by electric field gradients

Phase separation in liquid mixtures is mainly controlled by temperature and pressure, but can also be influenced by gravitational, magnetic or electric fields. However, the weak coupling between such fields and concentration fluctuations limits this effect to extreme conditions. For example, mixing induced by uniform electric fields is detectable only at temperatures that are within a few hundredths of degree or less of the phase transition temperature of the system being studied. Here we predict and demonstrate that electric fields can control the phase separation behaviour of mixtures of simple liquids under more practical conditions, provided that the fields are non-uniform. By applying a voltage of 100 V across unevenly spaced electrodes about 50 micro m apart, we can reversibly induce the demixing of paraffin and silicone oil at 1 K above the phase transition temperature of the mixture; when the field gradients are turned off, the mixture becomes homogeneous again. This direct control over phase separation behaviour depends on field intensity, with the electrode geometry determining the length-scale of the effect. We expect that this phenomenon will find a number of nanotechnological applications, particularly as it benefits from field gradients near small conducting objects.     

具有铁磁性Ising模型的磁性质

以Fe4N为原型,构建在晶场作用下的混自旋Ising模型。利用平均场理论,得到该模型的磁矩和自由能公式;绘制了不同相互作用下的磁化曲线;研究了系统的磁性质。发现系统发生了丰富的相变特性:系统存在一级有序-无序相变、重入现象和二级相变;晶场D_A/|J_1|和D_B/|J_1|对系统的磁性质所起作用相似。随着晶场的增加,一级有序-无序相变的温度升高,重入现象的温度降低;一级有序-无序相变和重入现象的温度间距逐渐缩小,直至这两种相变消失。     

磁场下U(2)×U(2)线性σ模型的手征相变

采用U(2)×U(2)线性σ模型对匀强磁场下的手征相变进行了研究.采用单圈有效势方法,讨论在不同温度、不同重子化学势、不同磁场下的有效势,从而对相变的类型进行了考察.结果表明,磁场的引入一般会提高手征相变的相变温度;介子自由度、真空起伏可能改变相变的性质.     

磁场对多铁性材料 CdCr2 S4介电性质的影响

多铁性材料在磁相变温度附近的介电异常归因于系统中铁磁有序和弛豫铁电性的共存。本文基于Heisen-berg模型对铁磁子系统进行分析,使用最近邻自旋对关联表征磁子系统的磁有序程度。磁性质通过磁电耦合效应修正磁性离子因非中心位移而形成的极化簇的取向激活能,实现对介电性质的影响。外加磁场通过提高系统的磁有序程度而使得介电异常更为显著,磁相变温度附近的磁电容效应是磁场对介电性质影响的最好检验。     

磁场中的强耦合表面(或界面)极化子

采用动量和坐标的线性组合算符,同时考虑体内及表面纵光声子与电子的相互作用,计算了磁场中的强耦合表面(或界面)极化子的基态能量、有效质量。结果表明:表面(或界面)极化子基态能量在磁场较弱时,随磁场抛物线性增大。而当磁场较强时随磁场线性增大。对于中间磁场,对表面极化子的基态能量和有效质量作了数值计算。其结果对于解释表面极化子在磁场中的行为是有帮助的。     

Liquid-crystal-mediated self-assembly at nanodroplet interfaces

Technological applications of liquid crystals have generally relied on control of molecular orientation at a surface or an interface. Such control has been achieved through topography, chemistry and the adsorption of monolayers or surfactants. The role of the substrate or interface has been to impart order over visible length scales and to confine the liquid crystal in a device. Here, we report results from a computational study of a liquid-crystal-based system in which the opposite is true: the liquid crystal is used to impart order on the interfacial arrangement of a surfactant. Recent experiments on macroscopic interfaces have hinted that an interfacial coupling between bulk liquid crystal and surfactant can lead to a two-dimensional phase separation of the surfactant at the interface, but have not had the resolution to measure the structure of the resulting phases. To enhance that coupling, we consider the limit of nanodroplets, the interfaces of which are decorated with surfactant molecules that promote local perpendicular orientation of mesogens within the droplet. In the absence of surfactant, mesogens at the interface are all parallel to that interface. As the droplet is cooled, the mesogens undergo a transition from a disordered (isotropic) to an ordered (nematic or smectic) liquid-crystal phase. As this happens, mesogens within the droplet cause a transition of the surfactant at the interface, which forms new ordered nanophases with morphologies dependent on surfactant concentration. Such nanophases are reminiscent of those encountered in block copolymers, and include circular, striped and worm-like patterns.     

梳型高分子聚合物液晶的相变

利用Freiser关于液晶分子相互作用模型,建立了梳型高聚物分子的哈密顿量,适用变分程序导出高聚物液晶结合相序参数自洽方程,得到在给定分子结构参数时的各向同性相至单轴向列相以及单轴至双轴向列相的相变。结果表明,当分子主、侧链间隔基团的耦合项中排斥作用以及结合相中较强向列相场者强度增大时,单轴至双轴向列相相变温度升高,并从一级相变逐渐变为二级相变。     

Fermi-liquid breakdown in the paramagnetic phase of a pure metal

Fermi-liquid theory (the standard model of metals) has been challenged by the discovery of anomalous properties in an increasingly large number of metals. The anomalies often occur near a quantum critical point--a continuous phase transition in the limit of absolute zero, typically between magnetically ordered and paramagnetic phases. Although not understood in detail, unusual behaviour in the vicinity of such quantum critical points was anticipated nearly three decades ago by theories going beyond the standard model. Here we report electrical resistivity measurements of the 3d metal MnSi, indicating an unexpected breakdown of the Fermi-liquid model--not in a narrow crossover region close to a quantum critical point where it is normally expected to fail, but over a wide region of the phase diagram near a first-order magnetic transition. In this regime, corrections to the Fermi-liquid model are expected to be small. The range in pressure, temperature and applied magnetic field over which we observe an anomalous temperature dependence of the electrical resistivity in MnSi is not consistent with the crossover behaviour widely seen in quantum critical systems. This may suggest the emergence of a well defined but enigmatic quantum phase of matter.     

Shear-induced molecular precession in a hexatic Langmuir monolayer

Liquid crystalline behaviour is generally limited to a select group of specially designed bulk substances. By contrast, it is a common feature of simple molecular monolayers and other quasi-two-dimensional systems, which often possess a type of in-plane ordering that results from unbinding of dislocations-a 'hexatic' liquid crystalline phase. The flow of monolayers is closely related to molecular transport in biological membranes, affects foam and emulsion stability and is relevant to microfluidics research. For liquid crystalline phases, it is important to understand the coupling of the molecular orientation to the flow. Orientationally ordered (nematic) phases in bulk liquid crystals exhibit 'shear aligning' or 'tumbling' behaviour under shear, and are described quantitatively by Leslie-Ericksen theory. For hexatic monolayers, the effects of flow have been inferred from textures of Langmuir-Blodgett films and directly observed at the macroscopic level. However, there is no accepted model of hexatic flow at the molecular level. Here we report observations of a hexatic Langmuir monolayer that reveal continuous, shear-induced molecular precession, interrupted by occasional jump discontinuities. Although superficially similar to tumbling in a bulk nematic phase, the kinematic details are quite different and provide a possible mechanism for domain coarsening and eventual molecular alignment in monolayers. We explain the precession and jumps within a quantitative framework that involves coupling of molecular orientation to the local molecular hexatic 'lattice', which is continuously deformed by shear.     

Special variation of infiltration-growth processed bulk YBCO fabricated using new liquid source: Ba3Cu5O8 (1:1.3) and YbBa2Cu3Oy

Utilization of novel materials, particularly high-Tc (critical temperature) superconductors, is essential to pursue the United Nations' Sustainable Goals, as well as to meet the increasing worldwide demand for clean and carbon-free electric power technologies. Superconduct-ing magnets are beneficial in several real-life applications including transportation, energy production, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and drug delivery systems. To achieve high performance, one must develop uniform, large-grain, infiltration-growth (IG) processed bulk YBa2Cu3Oy (Y-123) super-magnets. In this study, we report the magnetic and microstructural properties of a large-grain, top-seeded, IG-pro-cessed Y-123 pellet, which is 20 mm in diameter and 6 mm in height; the pellet is produced utilizing liquid Yb-123+Ba3Cu5O8 as the liquid source. All the samples cut from the top of the bulk exhibit a sharp superconducting transition (approximately 1 K wide) with the onset Tc of approximately 90 K. However, in the samples cut from the bottom surface, the onset Tc values slightly decreased to between 88 and 90 K, al-though still exhibiting a sharp superconducting transition. The top and bottom samples exhibited the highest remnant value of Jc (critical cur-rent density) at 77 K H//c-axis of 50 and 55 kA/cm2, respectively. The remnant Jc and irreversibility field values significantly fluctuated, being fairly low in some bottom samples. Scanning electron microscopy identified nanometer size Y-211 (Y2BaCuO5) secondary-phase particles dis-persed in the Y-123 matrix. Energy-dispersive spectroscopy clarified that the decreased both Tc and Jc for the bottom samples were attributed to liquid phase dispersion within the Y-123 phase.     

Quantum phase transition in a single-molecule quantum dot

Quantum criticality is the intriguing possibility offered by the laws of quantum mechanics when the wave function of a many-particle physical system is forced to evolve continuously between two distinct, competing ground states. This phenomenon, often related to a zero-temperature magnetic phase transition, is believed to govern many of the fascinating properties of strongly correlated systems such as heavy-fermion compounds or high-temperature superconductors. In contrast to bulk materials with very complex electronic structures, artificial nanoscale devices could offer a new and simpler means of understanding quantum phase transitions. Here we demonstrate this possibility in a single-molecule quantum dot, where a gate voltage induces a crossing of two different types of electron spin state (singlet and triplet) at zero magnetic field. The quantum dot is operated in the Kondo regime, where the electron spin on the quantum dot is partially screened by metallic electrodes. This strong electronic coupling between the quantum dot and the metallic contacts provides the strong electron correlations necessary to observe quantum critical behaviour. The quantum magnetic phase transition between two different Kondo regimes is achieved by tuning gate voltages and is fundamentally different from previously observed Kondo transitions in semiconductor and nanotube quantum dots. Our work may offer new directions in terms of control and tunability for molecular spintronics.     

Magnetic-field-induced superconductivity in a two-dimensional organic conductor

The application of a sufficiently strong magnetic field to a superconductor will, in general, destroy the superconducting state. Two mechanisms are responsible for this. The first is the Zeeman effect, which breaks apart the paired electrons if they are in a spin-singlet (but not a spin-triplet) state. The second is the so-called 'orbital' effect, whereby the vortices penetrate into the superconductors and the energy gain due to the formation of the paired electrons is lost. For the case of layered, two-dimensional superconductors, such as the high-Tc copper oxides, the orbital effect is reduced when the applied magnetic field is parallel to the conducting layers. Here we report resistance and magnetic-torque experiments on single crystals of the quasi-two-dimensional organic conductor lambda-(BETS)2FeCl4, where BETS is bis(ethylenedithio)tetraselenafulvalene. We find that for magnetic fields applied exactly parallel to the conducting layers of the crystals, superconductivity is induced for fields above 17 T at a temperature of 0.1 K. The resulting phase diagram indicates that the transition temperature increases with magnetic field, that is, the superconducting state is further stabilized with magnetic field.