Phenomenological theory of nonergodic phenomena in dipole- and spin-glasses

TL;DR

This paper presents a phenomenological Landau-type theory explaining nonergodic phenomena in dipole- and spin-glasses, including metastable states and magnetization staircases, aligning qualitatively with experimental observations.

Contribution

It introduces a theoretical framework for understanding nonergodic behavior in spin- and dipole-glasses using metastable states and phenomenological modeling.

Findings

Metastable states cause staircases in magnetization curves.

The theory qualitatively matches experimental data.

Path-dependent susceptibilities are analytically described.

Abstract

The path-dependent magnetizations (polarizations) and susceptibilities in dipole- and spin-glasses are described analytically for the standard protocols of temperature and field variations using the phenomenological Landau-type description of multiple metastable states in the nonergodic phases. The immediate manifestation of metastable states' multiplicity as staircases of magnetizations (polarizations) curves in the temperature cycling experiments is explained and described. The obtained results are in a reasonable qualitative agreement with the existing experimental data.