Monte Carlo study of the three-dimensional Coulomb frustrated Ising ferromagnet - art. no. 036109

We have investigated, by Monte Carlo simulation, the phase diagram of a thr ee-dimensional Ising model with nearest-neighbor ferromagnetic interactions and small, but long-range (Coulombic) anti ferro magnetic interactions. We have developed an efficient cluster algorithm and used different lattice s izes and geometries, which allows us to obtain the main characteristics of the temperature-frustration phase diagram. Our finite-size scaling analysis confirms that the melting of the lamellar phases into the paramagnetic pha se is driven first order by the fluctuations. Transitions between ordered p hases with different modulation patterns are observed in some regions of th e diagram, in agreement with a recent mean-field analysis.