TRANSITION OF A FERROSMECTIC IN A VERY WEAK MAGNETIC-FIELD

Citation
V. Ponsinet et al., TRANSITION OF A FERROSMECTIC IN A VERY WEAK MAGNETIC-FIELD, Europhysics letters, 30(5), 1995, pp. 277-282
Citations number
12
Categorie Soggetti
Physics
Journal title
ISSN journal
02955075
Volume
30
Issue
5
Year of publication
1995
Pages
277 - 282
Database
ISI
SICI code
0295-5075(1995)30:5<277:TOAFIA>2.0.ZU;2-R
Abstract
Lamellar phases doped with magnetic particles, called ferrosmectic pha ses, undergo a reorientation transition when submitted to a very weak magnetic field. In contrast to the predictions for thermotropic smecti c phases, the development of that instability occurs through the appea rance of localized defects. The critical field corresponding to that t ransition is calculated and compared to our experimental results. We d iscuss the occurrence of defect formation, rather than the expected ho mogeneous instability, in the more general terms of a second-order pha se transition changed into first order by the presence of host particl es.