Pinning and annealing of solitons in modulated systems

Journal Article · Fri Jun 01 04:00:00 EDT 1984 · Phys. Rev. B: Condens. Matter; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.29.6280· OSTI ID:6652762

Jensen, M H; Bak, P

Chaotic pinning of solitons occurs in nearly commensurate modulated systems when the distance between solitons becomes so large that their interaction cannot overcome the Peierls pinning potential. We study numerically within the mean-field theory the stability of the randomly pinned ''chaotic'' states as a function of temperature near the commensurate-incommensurate (CI) transition in the axial next-nearest-neighbor Ising model. The pinned state turns into a regular incommensurate state as the temperature is raised. A more regular soliton state emerges as the temperature is lowered. The system never reaches the ground state (Frank and van der Merwe or devil's-staircase behavior) near the CI transition because of the pinning. The chaos and the hysteresis may explain recent experimental findings in magnetic and ferroelectric systems.

• Research Organization: Fysisk Laboratorium 1, H. C. Orsted Institute, Universitetsparken 5, Copenhagen, Denmark
• OSTI ID: 6652762
• Journal Information: Phys. Rev. B: Condens. Matter; (United States), Journal Name: Phys. Rev. B: Condens. Matter; (United States) Vol. 29:11; ISSN PRBMD
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

656000* -- Condensed Matter Physics
75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
ANNEALING
CRYSTAL MODELS
HEAT TREATMENTS
HYSTERESIS
ISING MODEL
MAGNETIC PROPERTIES
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
MEAN-FIELD THEORY
NUMERICAL SOLUTION
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
QUASI PARTICLES
SOLITONS
STABILITY
TEMPERATURE DEPENDENCE