2017/11/20 by Ricard Alert, Pietro Tierno, Jaume Casademunt · 25 citations
Chemistry · Materials Science · Mathematics · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics #Chemistry #Colloid #Condensed matter physics #Critical dimension #Critical exponent #Discontinuity (linguistics) #Material Dynamics and Properties #Mathematical analysis #Mathematics #Non-equilibrium thermodynamics #Order (exchange) #Phase transition #Physics #Quantum critical point #Quantum phase transition #Statistical physics #Theoretical and Computational Physics #Thermodynamics #cond-mat.soft #cond-mat.stat-mech
paper · pdf · doi:10.1073/pnas.1712584114
published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 114(49), 12906-12909 (National Academy of Sciences)
openalex publication_date 2017/11/20 · arxiv created 2017/12/06 · arxiv updated 2017/12/07 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Mixed-order phase transitions display a discontinuity in the order parameter like first-order transitions yet feature critical behavior like second-order transitions. Such transitions have been predicted for a broad range of equilibrium and nonequilibrium systems, but their experimental observation has remained elusive. Here, we analytically predict and experimentally realize a mixed-order equilibrium phase transition. Specifically, a discontinuous solid-solid transition in a 2D crystal of paramagnetic colloidal particles is induced by a magnetic field [Formula: see text] At the transition field [Formula: see text], the energy landscape of the system becomes completely flat, which causes diverging fluctuations and correlation length [Formula: see text] Mean-field critical exponents are predicted, since the upper critical dimension of the transition is [Formula: see text] Our colloidal system provides an experimental test bed to probe the unconventional properties of mixed-order phase transitions.