Department of Physics and Astronomy: Publications and Other Research

 

Date of this Version

11-29-1999

Comments

Published American Physical Society. Copyright 1999. Permission to use. Phys. Rev. Lett. 83 (1999) 4562-4565. http://prb.aps.org/.

Abstract

We report the discovery of a compressibility phase transition at 160 K in crystalline copolymer films of vinylidene fluoride ( 70%) with trifluoroethylene ( 30%). This phase transition is distinct from the known bulk ferroelectric-paraelectric phase transition at 353 K and surface ferroelectric phase transition at 295 K. The new phase transition is characterized by an increase in the effective Debye temperature from 48 to 245 K along the 〈010〉 direction as the temperature falls below 160 K. This phase transition is evident in neutron scattering, x-ray diffraction, angle-resolved photoemission, and in the dipole active phonon modes in electron energy-loss spectroscopy.

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