Nanocriticality in the magnetic phase transition of CoO nanoparticles

The universal theory of critical phase transitions describes the critical behavior at second-order phase transitions in infinitely large systems. With the increased contemporary interest in nanoscale materials, we investigated CoO nanoparticles by means of neutron scattering and found how the theory...

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Published inarXiv.org
Main Authors Kamminga, Machteld E, Birk, Jonas Okkels, Hjøllum, Jari í, Jacobsen, Henrik, Lass, Jakob, Koch, Thorbjørn L, Christensen, Niels B, Niedermayer, Christof, Keller, Lukas, Luise Theil Kuhn, Ulrikkeholm, Elisabeth T, Brok, Erik, Frandsen, Cathrine, Lefmann, Kim
Format Paper Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Ithaca Cornell University Library, arXiv.org 30.05.2022
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Summary:The universal theory of critical phase transitions describes the critical behavior at second-order phase transitions in infinitely large systems. With the increased contemporary interest in nanoscale materials, we investigated CoO nanoparticles by means of neutron scattering and found how the theory of critical phenomena breaks down in the nanoscale regime. Using CoO as a model system, we have identified a size-dependent nanocritical temperature region close to the antiferromagnetic phase transition where the magnetic correlation length of the nanoparticles converges to a constant value, which is significantly smaller than that of the saturated state found at low temperatures. This is in clear contrast to the divergence around \(T_{\rm N}\) observed for bulk systems. Our findings of nanocriticality in the magnetic phase transition is of great importance for the understanding of phase transitions at the nanoscale.
ISSN:2331-8422
DOI:10.48550/arxiv.2205.13975