A phenomenological study on ferroelectric β-glycine

Abstract

The anomalous behavior of the specific heat for (Formula presented.) -glycine was analyzed in terms of the compressible Ising model approximately 5 K below and above the ferrelectric-paraelectric phase transition temperature of TC = 252 K. The obtained value of the critical exponent (Formula presented.) = 0.12 in the ferroelectric phase (T < TC) was consistent with that predicted from the 3-d Ising model ((Formula presented.) = 0.13), while the obtained value of (Formula presented.) = 0.32 in the paraelectric phase (T > TC) was consistent with that predicted from the 2-d potts model ((Formula presented.) = 0.30). Some thermodynamic quantities such as the internal energy, the entropy and the free energy of (Formula presented.) -glycine were then predicted in terms of these extracted values of the critical exponents close to the phase transition temperature of TC. Our calculated values of the thermodynamic quantities are in good agreement with the observed data.