Inhomogeneous ground state and the coexistence of two length scales near phase transitions in real solids

Real crystals almost unavoidably contain a finite density of dislocations. We show that this generic type of long-range correlated disorder leads to a breakdown of the conventional scenario of critical behavior and standard renormalization group techniques based on the existence of a simple, homogen...

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Veröffentlicht in:Europhysics letters 1999-01, Vol.45 (2), p.195-200
Hauptverfasser: Korzhenevskii, A. L, Herrmanns, K, Heuer, H.-O
Format: Artikel
Sprache:eng
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Zusammenfassung:Real crystals almost unavoidably contain a finite density of dislocations. We show that this generic type of long-range correlated disorder leads to a breakdown of the conventional scenario of critical behavior and standard renormalization group techniques based on the existence of a simple, homogeneous ground state. This breakdown is due to the appearance of an inhomogeneous ground state that changes the character of the phase transition to that of a percolative phenomenon. This scenario leads to a natural explanation for the appearance of two length scales in recent high resolution small-angle scattering experiments near magnetic and structural phase transitions.
ISSN:0295-5075
1286-4854
DOI:10.1209/epl/i1999-00146-1