Studies on phase transition and phase coexistence - traversing T and H using liquid helium

TL;DR

This paper discusses how liquid helium enables efficient exploration of phase transitions and coexistence in materials by varying magnetic field and temperature, highlighting recent discoveries in manganites.

Contribution

It presents new experimental insights into phase coexistence and transitions in manganites using liquid helium to traverse (H, T) space.

Findings

Observation of phase coexistence in manganites.

Discovery of glass-like phase with structural and magnetic order.

Effectiveness of liquid helium in studying phase transitions.

Abstract

Liquid helium is crucial to conveniently vary magnetic field (H) and temperature (T) giving access to a large region of (H, T) space; in stark contrast with the effort currently required to explore a comparable region of (P, T) space. The centenary of the liquefaction of helium is an appropriate occasion to talk on the utilization of our facilities for studies across first order phase transitions. We observed some interesting effects in variety of systems traversing (H, T) space across the magnetic first order phase transitions. We focus here on a few recent intriguing discoveries in the half-doped manganites related to the coexistence of equilibrium phase, with a glass-like phase having both structural and magnetic long-range order.