Search

The basic Landau model for uniaxial systems of the II class is nonintegrable, and allows for various stable and metastable periodic configurations, beside that representing the uniform (or dimerized) ordering. In the present paper we complete the analysis of this model by performing the second order variational procedure, and formulating the combined Floquet-Bloch approach to the ensuing nonstandard linear eigenvalue problem. This approach enables an analytic derivation of some general conclusions on the stability of particular states, and on the nature of accompanied collective excitations. Furthermore, we calculate numerically the spectra of collective modes for all states participating in the phase diagram, and analyze critical properties of Goldstone modes at all second order and first order transitions between disordered, uniform and periodic states. In particular it is shown that the Goldstone mode softens as the underlying soliton lattice becomes more and more dilute., Comment: 19 pages, 16 figures, REVTeX, to be published in Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and General

Starting from the basic Landau model for the incommensurate-commensurate materials of the class II, we derive the spectrum of collective modes for all (meta)stable states from the corresponding phase diagram. It is shown that all incommensurate states posses Goldstone modes with acoustic dispersions. The representation in terms of collective modes is also used in the calculation and discussion of static dielectric response for systems with the commensurate wave number in the center of the Brillouin zone., Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, REVTeX

We propose the Landau model for lock-in phase transitions in uniaxially modulated improper ferroelectric incommensurate-commensurate systems of class I. It includes Umklapp terms of third and fourth order and secondary order parameter representing the local polarization. The corresponding phase diagram has the structure of harmless staircase, with the allowed wave numbers obeying the Farey tree algorithm. Among the stable commensurate phases only those with periods equal to odd number of lattice constants have finite macroscopic polarizations. These results are in excellent agreement with experimental findings in some A2BX4 compounds., Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, revtex, to be published in Journal of Physics: Cond. Matter as a Letter to the Editor

Reconsidering the variational procedure for uniaxial systems modeled by continuous free energy functionals, we derive new general conditions for thermodynamic extrema. The utility of these conditions is briefly illustrated on the models for the classes I and II of incommensurate-commensurate systems., Comment: 5 pages, to be published in Phys. Rev. Lett

The basic Landau model for the incommensurate-commensurate transition to the uniform or dimerized uniaxial ordering is critically reexamined. The previous analyses identified only sinusoidal and homogeneous solutions as thermodynamically stable and proposed a simple phase diagram with the first order phase transition between these configurations. By performing the numerical analysis of the free energy and the Euler-Lagrange equation we show that the phase diagram is more complex. It also contains a set of metastable solutions present in the range of coexistence of homogeneous and sinusoidal solutions. These new configurations are periodic patterns of homogeneous domains connected by sinusoidal segments. They are Lyapunov unstable, very probably due to the nonintegrability of the free energy functional. We also discuss some other mathematical aspects of the model, and compare it with the essentially simpler sine-Gordon model for the transitions to the states with higher commensurabilities. The present results might be a basis for the explanation of phenomena like thermal hystereses, cascades of phase transitions, and memory effects, observed in materials exhibiting the transitions to uniform or dimerized state. Some particular examples are discussed in detail., Comment: 32 pages, LaTeX, 10 figures appended (uuencoded postscript files)