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Observation of a new memory effect in a modulated
structure
J.P. Jamet, P. Lederer
To cite this version:
J.P. Jamet, P. Lederer. Observation of a new memory effect in a modulated structure. Journal
de Physique Lettres, Edp sciences, 1983, 44 (7), pp.257-264. �10.1051/jphyslet:01983004407025700�.
�jpa-00232190�
Observation
of
a newmemory
effect in
amodulated
structure
(*)
J. P. Jamet and P. Lederer
Laboratoire de
Physique
des Solides (**), Université Paris-Sud, Bâtiment 510, 91405Orsay,
France(Re!pu le 23
septembre
1982, r~vise les 15 decembre 1982 et 20 janvier 1983,accepte
le1 D fevrier
1983)Résumé. 2014 Nous décrivons la
première
observation d’un nouvel effet de mémoire dans une structuremodulée
(thiourée deutériée).
Nousprésentons
uneexplication qualitative
de cet effet basée surl’interaction de défauts ou
d’impuretés
mobiles avec leparamètre
d’ordre de la modulation. Nousmontrons que cet effet peut être utilisé pour obtenir les
lignes d’égal
vecteur d’onde de modulation dans leplan
E, T dudiagramme
dephase
par des méthodesthermodynamiques.
Noussuggérons
que lessystèmes à
ODC commeNbSe3 présentent
eux aussi une modulationpériodique
deconcen-tration de défauts, ce
qui
rendrait compte des effets nonlinéaires
enchamp
électrique. (ODC :
Ondede Densité de
Charge.)
Abstract. 2014 We report the first observation of a new memory effect in a modulated structure
(deute-rated
thiourea).
We present aqualitative explanation
of this effect in terms of mobile defects, orimpurities, interacting
with the modulation order parameter. We show that thiseffect
can be used toobtain the lines of constant modulation wavevector in the E, T
plane
of thephase diagram, by
thermo-dynamic
methods. We suggest that a similarperiodic
modulation of defect concentration occurs in CDW systems, likeNbSe3,
and accounts for the nonlinearity
inducedby
the electric field.(CDW :
Charge Density Wave.)
Classification
Physics Abstracts
61. 70 - 64. 70K - 66.30J
Thermal
hysteresis
effects arepresent
in ferroelectrics and modulated structures and are known to exist indipole density
wavesystems
such asSC(ND2)2
[1],
Rb2ZnCl4
[2],
TMAZnC14
[3],
BaNaNbs015
[4]
orcharge density
wavesystems
such asTTF-TCNQ [5]. They
are observedby
using
neutrondiffraction,
specific
heat,
dielectricsusceptibility
orlinear
birefringence
experi-ments. The effect ofimpurities by doping
has beeninvestigated
forexample
inRb2 - xKxZnC14
[6]
but thereis,
to ourknowledge,
noexperimental study concerning
the effect of dislocations ortunnelling
impurities
on theproperties
of a modulated structure. In somesystems
[4],
the ratherlarge
thermalhysteresis
which is observed on theq-wavevector
evolution of the modulationplays
in favour of the influence ofimpurities
or defects on the modulated structure. Thepinning
of the incommensurate modulationby
the defects has beeninvestigated
from a theoreticalpoint
ofview in the case of the
charge density
waves[7j.
(*) Le contenu de cet article a 6t6
présenté
enpartie
auColloque
du C.N.R.S. : Parois etDomaines~RCP
608) Aussois,
janvier
1982.(**)
Associé au C.N.R.S.L-258 JOURNAL DE PHYSIQUE - LETTRES
We
present
here an effect observed in the.modulatedphase
of thiourea which we call a memoryeffect and which can
presumably
be attributed to anordering
of defects orimpurities
or other mobile entitiesby
the modulation orderparameter;
we believe that this effectwhich,
to ourknowledge,
has never been observed before istightly
related to the existence ofhysteresis
in thefollowing
sense : if theeffect
isextrinsic,
thenhysteresis
is mostlikely
of extrinsicorigin (even
though
different defectsmay~explain
one orother);
if the effect isintrinsic,
thenhysteresis
isprobably
also intrinsic.
~---1. Linear
birefringence
and dielectricsusceptibility experiments.
The
susceptibility
measurements have beenperformed by using
aSawyer-Tower
like circuit.The reference sinusoidal
signal
at 1.5 kHz isgiven by
ahigh stability
low distortiongenerator
and the detection uses a lock-in
amplifier coupled
to a X-Y recorder and adigital voltmeter;
no
significant
difference has been found on thesusceptibility
between 10 Hz and 600 kHz whichmeans that s = ~o. For the measured
sample (thickness :
0.62 mm, area : 6mm2)
the Noise toSignal
Ratio(N.S.R.)
was 2 x10-4,
while the kinkamplitude,
in the case offigure
1,
representsabout 10 times the noise
amplitude (furthermore
the absoluteprecision
on thesusceptibility
measurement
iscertainly
not better than10-’).
On the otherhand,
thebirefringence
measure-ments
on the samesample
used anacousto-optical
modulator toimprove
thesignal
to noiseratio
[8] ;
thelight
source is a stabilized HeNe Laser(~,
= 6 328A) ;
theoptical phase
shift is~ 15
radians/mm [9]
in the modulatedphase (i.e.
between 190 K and 216K)
and the noiseampli-tude is
10- 3
radian/mm;
as anexample
the kinkamplitude
is about 5 x10- 3
radian/mm
ifTo
= 194K,
but it is about10- 3
radian/mm
at 202 K. Wereport
here the most accurate resultsobtained
by susceptibility. Birefringence
results will bereported
elsewhere.In the modulated
phase
of thiourea(190
K T 216K,
in zero d.c. field and atatmospheric
pressure)
the dielectricsusceptibility
and thebirefringence
exhibit alarge
thermalhysteresis :
Fig.
1. -a)
Typical
temperature evolution as a function of time used to get the memory effect. The step located around 201 Kduring
thecooling phase
will generate a kinkduring
theheating phase
at alarger
temperature T ~ 202 K
(due
to thehysteresis effect).
b) Experimental susceptibility
curves for a cleaved sample with dimensions 2 x 3mm2,
thickness 0.62 mm.The dotted lines represent the curve obtained
during
a continuous run and the solid line the curve obtainedFig.
2. -E, T
phase
diagram ofSC(ND2)2 ;
the solid lines are from [10]. Theflame-shaped
curve is theenvelop
of the commensuratephase
with q = b*/8 and thetriangles
are obtained byusing
the memory effect; the dotted linesare just
ahelp
to the eyes,they join
thepoints
obtainedby using
the same temperaturestep
during
thecooling
phase
andapplying
various field valuesduring
theheating
phase which result’invarious kink
positions.
The theoreticalanalysis
given
in [12] forthe q
= b*/8phase
assumed, in the absenceofUmklapp
term, a theoretical line (dashed dotted line) which is also the middle lineof the q
= b*/8commen-surate
phase;
the excellent agreement of the theoretical andexperimental
curvatures is an excellent check of the theorygiven
in[12].
it is null within
experimental
accuracy at and above the second orderphase
transitiontempera-ture
(To N
216K)
separating
theparaelectric
and modulatedphases
and increasesmonotoni-cally
belowTo
down to the commensuratephase
transition(q
=b*/9 )
atT 9 ~
192 K. At 190K,
a first order transition to the ferroelectric
phase (q
=0)
occurs and below thistemperature
thehysteresis
effect is associated to the presence of ferroelectric domain walls. If a non-zero d.c. field E isapplied parallel
to the ferroelectric axis « a », the situation is notdrastically
modifiedapart
from the onset of the field-induced commensuratephase with q
=b* j8 [10].
Inside thedomains of
stability
of the commensuratephases
(q
=b*/8
and q
=b*/9),
thehysteresis
effectas measured
by birefringence
orsusceptibility experiments
is different from zero.2. Thermal
cycle
and memory effect.Standard measurements of the
susceptibility
in the modulatedphase
(i.e.
between 190 Kand
216K)
involveusually
a slow(
3mK/s)
and continuousheating
rate from the lowtempera-ture to the
high
temperature
phase boundary
and vice versa. As is wellknown,
theresulting
curvesexhibit a thermal
hysteresis.
We have obtained aninteresting
effect when theheating (or cooling)
procedure
isslightly
lesssimple,
as shown onfigure
la.Starting
first to cool in zero external fieldfrom above 216 K
(with
a constantcooling
rate
I dT/dt
I
= 3mK/s)
one allows thetemperature
to stabilize at an
arbitrary
value,
sayTo
= 201 Kduring
a time intervalAto -
600s, then to
decrease
again;
beforegoing through
the first order transitionseparating
the modulated andferroelectric
phases,
thetemperature
isagain
stabilized atT 1
= 191 K(for
a time interval whichexperimentally
has not exceeded twodays)
and then increased(dT/dt
= 3mK/s) :
one thenobserves a small
negative
kink on thesusceptibility
orbirefringence
curve at atemperature
slightly
above
To =
201 K. Theamplitude
of this kink is rather smallA/// ~
10 - 3
but it isclearly
visible on
figure
lb,
in asusceptibility experiment.
One may now use the same
cooling
procedure
as above butduring
theheating phase,
a d.c.sam-L-260 JOURNAL DE
PHYSIQUE -
LETTRESple
does not becomeferroelectric)
then a kink is still observed but at ahigher
temperature
thanwith
Ej c
= 0. The loci of these kinks aredisplayed
onfigure
2.3. Remarks.
a)
Theexperimental procedure
used in(la)
can be modified for several parameters such asTo, TI,
or thecooling
andheating
rates; the kinkamplitude
is smaller whenTo
is increased and it is null at and above the modulatedparaelectric phase
transition. IfTo
is inside the domain ofstability
of a commensuratephase (q
=b*/8,
withEd.,. 0
0 forexample)
then the domain ofstability
of thisphase
appears to beslightly
increased. Ifduring
thecooling
process, thetempera-ture is allowed to stabilize several
times,
then several kinks will be « written ». At last the kinkamplitude
seems to besample dependent
andconsequently
it is mostprobably
related to thedensity
ofimpurities
or defectspresent
inside thesystem;
thedependence
of the kinkamplitude
with the duration of the
temperature step
atTo,
has notyet
beeninvestigated quantitatively;
all we can say, atpresent
time,
is that a few minutes seem to be sufficient to somehow « saturate »the memory effect.
b)
The memory effect has been observed for severalheating
orcooling procedures,
which are notreported
here. Asusceptibility
kink not shown onfigure
lb is also observed uponcooling
again
at the locus called «T-step
position
>r.c)
We do not believe that the observation of the memory effect could be an artefact due totrivial causes such as : space
charge (it
is observed on short-circuitedsamples
in zero d.c.field)
or electrical contactinstability (the samples
aregold-plated
undervacuum).
4.
Interpretation.
How can we
interpret
such aphenomenon ?
Whenduring
thecooling
process, thetemperature
is allowed to stabilize at
To (at
timeto),
the modulation wavevectorstops
decreasing,
so that theextrinsic defects
(dislocations
forexample)
orimpurities,
withrelatively high mobility
can relaxin the
periodic
field of the modulateddipolar
field. This can be understood on the basis of asimple
steric condition : in
thiourea,
the modulation is a modulation of the orientation of electricdipoles
(which
areplanar molecules)
with the b-axis[11] ; impurities (for example
interstitialmolecules)
thus
experience
a modulated interaction with the lattice :where
P(r)
is the local uniaxialpolarization,
ðrfri
is the Kronecker’ssymbol and r~
is theimpurity
position;
we havedeveloped Yr(r)
to lowest order inP(r). (Thus
we do not treatproperly
the lowtemperature
case).
Vo
is taken here to beequal
for allimpurities,
forsimplicity. (In
the CDWcase, it is
probably
moreappropriate
to assumet~(r) ~
p(r),
wherep(r)
is thecharge density.
In othersystems,
one may have morecomplicated impurity-modulation
interactionspotentials).
As
aresult
of~M,
at thermalequilibrium,
theimpurity
concentration is alsoperiodic
if theimpurity
mobility
is not zero, with thereciprocal
modulationperiodicity
(2qo)-1.
When themodulation is sinusoidal :
where
bo
1;
bo
depends
on the nature of theimpurities,
defects,...
which can interact withthe modulation
potential ;
also it is reasonable to assume thatbo
goes to zero with theamplitude
of the
modulation, i.e.,
as a
firstapproximation :
bo -
Pqo ~2
whereP~
is the Fourier transform ofP(r).
Notice thatC(r)
is the average concentration in theplane perpendicular
to themodula-tion axis at
point
« r » ; in a3d-system,
the concentration can be modulated as in the formulaWhen the modulation is
strongly
anharmonic(soliton limit),
as is the case near thecommen-surate-incommensurate transition at q =
b*/9,
theimpurity
concentrationprofile
should alsoexhibit a
large
number of harmonics and aperiodic
wall structure.Thus the
impurity
gas can exhibit aperiodic
modulation with wavevectorqo if a
sufficient number ofimpurities
has a relaxation time T in the modulationperiodic
field,
such thatwhere
Ato
= 600 s in theexperiment
described above.a)
When thetemperature
T continues to decrease belowTo
= 201K,
the modulationwave-vector
q(T)
varies withT,
i.e.,
with time. As a result theperiodic impurity
pattern
is submittedto a time
dependent potential.
Thesign
of thepotential-gradient,
i.e. theforce,
alternates in timeat a
given
impurity
site,
while itsintensity
increases withdecreasing
temperature
due to the orderparameter
monotonousincrease;
so if the rate ofchange
of thetemperature
issufficient,
impurities
do not follow the timedependent
modulation,
and theperiodic
concentrationpattern
keeps
the initialperiodicity.
When thetemperature
becomesstationary again
atT1
at time tl, theimpurities
experience
aperiodic potential
with a differentperiodicity corresponding
to the wave-vector q1’usually
incommensurate with qo.At
relatively
short times after tl, i.e. t1 t ~ t1 + r, when thetemperature
is stabilized at T =T 1,
the concentrationpattern gets
the form :where b,
is different frombo
because the orderparameter
varies withtemperature,
and whereb’ 0
bo.
Thispattern
is out ofequilibrium
aslong
asbo =~
0,
but weexpect
it to have along
life-time because the time ir necessary to thermalize the
impurities
(i.e,
to erase theimpurity
modula-tion with wavevector
2qo)
involvestunnelling
of defects orimpurities through
thepotential
barriers due to the
periodic
modulation,
so that r, is muchlarger
thant( t,
>>t).
Clearly
T, increaseswith
decreasing
temperature
because theheight
of thepotential
barriers increases. Therefore attime t such that
the
system
exhibits a modulated concentration ofimpurities
with fundamental Fourier compo-nents of wavevector2qo
and2q1
(and,
possibly
their harmonics if thedipolar
modulation is notsimply sinusoidal).
(Note
that all we can say about ir is that in oursample
tr > 48h).
b)
When thetemperature
isincreasing
fromT 1 (after
a time shorter than’tr)’
there will bean extra free energy
density
be an extra free energydensity
6F,
when the wavevectorq(T)
willgo
through
qo. Indeed :Note that the
general expression
for 5F isproportional
to sin 2~ where ø. is thephase
diffe-rence between the modulation and the
periodic impurity
pattern. 4>
is chosen so thatYo 60
0.(There
exists also a termb’ 0
Co Po
Pq
~,i2q
which weneglect
here,
as discussed inAppen-dix
1.)
Because of this extra term, theamplitude
of the modulationexperiences
a small variationwhen
q(T)
=L-262 JOURNAL DE PHYSIQUE - LETTRES
This
change
is reflected in the uniformsusceptibility.
We find(see
A1) :
with
y is a
phenomenological
coefficient defined in A I.~Pg -
1bx .
Note
that2013~- = -
-
in zerofield,
seeappendix.
B
Pq
x/
Thus the uniform
susceptibility
exhibits a(negative)
kink at thetemperature
To(E)
definedby
q [ To (E )]
=qo.
Therefore,
if we « write » the modulation wavevector qo in the system inzero
field,
we can determine the lines where the modulation wavevector qostays
constant in the(E,
T)
plane.
Thepreliminary
results of our measurements are shown onfigure
2 for three values of qo. The results are in a verygood
agreement
with neutron diffraction results at low d.c. field values[16]
and athigh
field values[17].
c)
When the system is heated at or above the modulatedparaelectric
transition( ~
216 Kin zero d.c.
field),
theperiodic
field due to the modulationvanishes,
so that theperiodic impurity
concentration relaxes to a uniform one, in a time Ot ~ r. Thus if one cools thesystem
downfrom
high
temperature,
oneexpects
no memoryeffect,
as observed.5. Conclusion.
We have described a new memory effect observed in the modulated
phase
of thiourea and shownthat it allows to determine
iso-q
lines in the E-Tplane
of thephase diagram by susceptibility
measurements. We have
suggested
that this effect can be understoodif,
in thecrystal,
there exist defects orimpurities
with asufficiently
broadspectrum
of relaxationtimes,
and which interactwith the
dipolar
modulation.Likewise,
iso-q
lines may be determinedusing
the same effectby
birefringence
measurements.Notice that the
theory
outlined here is a weakcoupling
one, in the sense that themodulation-defect
coupling
does notchange
theequilibrium
value of the modulation wavevector. Situationswhere a
strong
coupling
occurs should lead to aquite
different behaviour.A number of unanswered
questions
must still be clarified : what are the nature and the relevant relaxation times of theimpurities
or defects which allow to observe the memory effect ? How does theintensity
of the memory effectdepend
on thecooling
orheating
rates or on the timeintervals between
temperature
stabilizations ? Morefundamentally,
weexpect
the memoryeffect to shed some
light
on the nature of theglobal hysteresis
in thiourea : is thishysteresis
intrinsic ? If itis,
is it due to the Peierlspotential
feltby
discommensuration walls[12],
or is itdue to the intrinsic defect lines
[13] ?
or is thishysteresis
extrinsic(due
to thecrystal
inhomo-geneities,
dislocations,
etc.).
Somewhat like thehysteresis
describedby
Neel[14] ?
We feel that thosequestions,
which arequite
basic in theunderstanding
of three dimensional modulatedstructures, and in
particular
in theproblem
of thepiecewise analyticity
of thethermodynamic
functions[12]
may be attacked from thepoint
of view of their influence on the memory effect.Experimental
as well as theoretical work is in progress on thesequestions
and will bereported
elsewhere.Finally,
we would like tosuggest
that aperiodic
defect concentration isexpected
to occurin
practically
all modulated structures, with a wide variation in relaxationtimes,
orders ofmagni-tude,
etc.,depending
on thespecific
nature of each system, on the nature of the mobiledefects,
on the
temperature
at which modulated structuresorder,
etc..NbSe3
is aparticularly
interesting
tempe-rature for CDW
formation,
as well as theperiodic
noisespectrum
[18]
can be understoodprovided
one assumes apinning potential
of the CDW to theimpurities.
A random distribution of fixedimpurities
cannotprovide
the sinusoidalpotential -
sin~,
where ~ is the CDWphase [19].
On thecontrary,
if a sufficient amount ofimpurities (or
defects,
orelse,
etc.)
is able to relax in theperiodic
field of themodulation,
ashappens
inthiourea,
theappropriate
sin ~potential
arises mostnaturally
fromcommensurability
between CDW andimpurity
modulation,
andaccounts for the essential
experimental
features. In order to check thisexplanation,
one shouldmeasure the threshold fields after
quenching, annealing
and look for timedependent
effectslinked with defect diffusion.
After this paper was
completed,
we received apreprint
on thephase
diagram
ofNaN02
measured
by
neutron diffraction under electric field[20].
In this parentsystem
ofthiourea,
the measured
iso-q
lines arestrikingly
similar to those shown infigure
2. Aspointed
out inrefe-/~p (y.)B2
rence
[ 20 ],
theiso- q
line curvature is well accounted forby introducing
aterm r~
~(~) (201320132013 )
in
equation
(1.2),
with r~
> 0. We consider the results of reference[20]
as a confirmation of thememory effect described here.
Acknowledgments.
We are
pleased
to thank Prof V.Janovec,
G. Montambaux and M. Barreto forstimulating
discussions and F.Denoyer
and D. Durand forshowing
us their neutron dataprior
topublica-tion. J. Ferré is
acknowledged
for continuous interest while this work wascompleted.
We thankSeb Doniach for
helpful
remarks.Appendix
I.In the presence of the modulated
impurity
concentration the free energy of the modulatedphase
of thiourea is
[ 10] :
with
In
fact,
(1.2)
is asimplified
version of the free energy forthiourea;
in order to describe the modulatedpart
of thephase diagram
in thehigh
fieldregion,
one needs to take into accounta sixth order term
[12] ’"
DP;(r).
Taking
D =0,
as we dohere,
allows a clearer derivationof the memory
effect
and isonly
acceptable
in thiourea at low fields(E
1kV/mm).
In
(1.2),
Px(r )
is the uniaxialpolarization
andEx
theapplied
d.c. electricalfield;
Ao
=( T -
To )/T,
B and y are
positive
constants anda(T, E)
isnegative [15].
We consider that thephases
of thesystem are described
by
a uniformpolarization Po
and a sinusoidalpolarization
of wavevec-tor q. TheUmklapp
terms have beenneglected.
Then :where
L-264 JOURNAL DE PHYSIQUE - LETTRES
We shall
neglect
the second term in(1.5)
for two reasons : first ofall,
in most of the modulatedphase
P~ ~ ! I Pq
I Po,
andsecondly,
there is noway
to mark thesystem
at qo, and test an echoat 2 2n 2n
.
at
2qo
because 9b
~(T)
~.
Then
Po
andPq
are determinedby
aF/aPo
= 0 andaF/aPq
=0,
i.e. :In
(1.6),
the terms of orderP~
arenegligible
in the modulatedphase
at low and intermediate field values(E
1kV/mm
in deuteratedthiourea).
At
last,
we have :and at low fields :
in the limit
Ao -
2~ ~>
2bo Vo Co
we obtain the result of the text. The latter is thus seen tobe a weak
coupling
limit,
asemphasized
in the conclusion. References[1]
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