No Arabic abstract
An argument that relaxor ferroelectricity in the isovalent alloy $mathrm {Ba(Zr}_{1-x}mathrm{Ti}_{x})mathrm{O}_3$ can be understood as an induced moment soft pseudo-spin glass on the B-ions of the $mathrm{ABO}_{3}$ matrix is extended to the experimentally paradigmic but theoretically more complex heterovalent relaxor $mathrm {Pb(Mg}_{1/3}mathrm{Nb}_{2/3}mathrm{)O}_3$ (PMN). It is argued that interesting behaviour of the onset of non-ergodicity, frequency-dependent susceptibility peaks and precursor nanodomains can be understood from analagous considerations of the B-ions, with the displacements of the Pb ions a largely independent, but distracting, side-feature. This contrasts with conventional conceptualizations.
A range of ferroic glasses, magnetic, polar, relaxor and strain glasses, are considered together from the perspective of spin glasses. Simple mathematical modelling is shown to provide a possible conceptual unification to back similarities of experimental observations, without considering all possible complexities and alternatives.
In an attempt to understand the origin of relaxor ferroelectricity, it is shown that interesting behaviour of the onset of non-ergodicity and of precursor nanodomains found in first principles simulations of the relaxor alloy $mathrm {Ba(Zr}_{1-x}mathrm{Ti}_{x}mathrm{)O}_3$ can be understood easily by a simple mapping to a soft pseudo-spin glass.
High-resolution Brillouin scattering is used to achieve 3-dimensional maps of the longitudinal acoustic mode frequency shift in soda-lime silicate glasses subject to Vickers indentations. Assuming that residual stress-induced effects are simply proportional to density changes, residual densification fields are obtained. The density gradient is nearly isotropic, confirming earlier optical observations made on a similar glass. The results show that Brillouin micro-spectroscopy opens the way to a fully quantitative comparison of experimental data with predictions of mechanical models for the identification of a constitutive law.
As well as several different kinds of periodically ordered ferroic phases, there are now recognized several different examples of ferroic glassiness, although not always described as such and in material fields of study that have mostly been developed separately. In this chapter an attempt is made to indicate common conceptual origins and features, observed or anticipated. Throughout, this aim is pursued through the use of simple models, in an attempt to determine probable fundamental origins within a larger picture of greater complication, and analogies between systems in different areas, both experimental and theoretical, in the light of significant progress in spin glass understanding.
An archetypical spin-glass metallic alloy, Cu0.83Mn0.17, is studied by means of an ab-initio based approach. First-principles calculations are employed to obtain effective chemical, strain-induced and magnetic exchange interactions, as well as static atomic displacements, and the interactions are subsequently used in thermodynamic simulations. It is shown that the calculated atomic and magnetic short-range order accurately reproduces the results of neutron-scattering experiments. In particular, it is confirmed that the alloy exhibits a tendency toward ordering and the corresponding ordered phase is revealed. The magnetic structure is represented by spin-spiral clusters accompanied by weaker ferromagnetic short-range correlations. The spin-glass transition temperature obtained in Monte Carlo simulations by a finite-size scaling technique, 57 K, is in reasonable agreement with experimental data, 78 K.