Phase transitions in a ferrofluid at magnetic field induced microphase separation
arXiv:cond-mat/0103429 · doi:10.1103/PhysRevE.64.041506
Abstract
In the presence of a magnetic field applied perpendicular to a thin sample layer, a suspension of magnetic colloidal particles (ferrofluid) can form spatially modulated phases with a characteristic length determined by the competition between dipolar forces and short-range forces opposing density variations. We introduce models for thin-film ferrofluids in which magnetization and particle density are viewed as independent variables and in which the non-magnetic properties of the colloidal particles are described either by a lattice-gas entropy or by the Carnahan-Starling free energy. Our description is particularly well suited to the low-particle density regions studied in many experiments. Within mean-field theory, we find isotropic, hexagonal and stripe phases, separated in general by first-order phase boundaries.
12 pages, RevTex, to appear in PRE
Cited by in corpus (5)
- Emergent devil's staircase without particle-hole symmetry in Rydberg quantum gases with competing attractive and repulsive interactions
- Isometric fluctuation relations for equilibrium states with broken symmetry
- Fluctuation relations for equilibrium states with broken discrete or continuous symmetries
- Thermal expansion within a chain of magnetic colloidal particles
- Early time kinetics of systems with spatial symmetry breaking