Experimental Evidence for Crossover to Mean-Field Tricritical Behavior in a Concentrated Salt Solution

Anisimov, MA and Jacob, J and Kumar, A and Agayan, VA and Sengers, JV (2000) Experimental Evidence for Crossover to Mean-Field Tricritical Behavior in a Concentrated Salt Solution. In: Physical Review Letters, 85 (11). pp. 2336-2339.

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Abstract

We have discovered a mean-field multicritical point on the critical locus in an aqueous solution of 3-methylpyridine and sodium bromide. Light-scattering measurements indicate Ising-like asymptotic critical behavior at the lower salt concentrations. However, the temperature range of Ising critical behavior shrinks with increasing salt concentration and the critical behavior becomes mean-field-like at a concentration of about 17% mass fraction of NaBr. Emergence of a new characteristic length scale diverging at this point and a simultaneous pronounced increase in the background scattering suggests mean-field tricritical behavior associated with the formation of a microheterogeneous phase due to clustering of ions and molecules.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Publication:	Physical Review Letters
Publisher:	American Physical Society
Additional Information:	Copyright of this article belongs to American Physical Society.
Department/Centre:	Division of Physical & Mathematical Sciences > Physics
Date Deposited:	19 Jul 2009 05:21
Last Modified:	19 Sep 2010 04:58
URI:	http://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/17711

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