STUDY ON ONE-DIMENSIONAL CI PHASE TRANSITION WITH TRIPLE-WELL INTERACTIONS

To study modulated structures and commensurate-incommensurate (CI) transitions, we generalize the Frenkel-Kontorova model to the Frenkel-Kontorova-Devonshire model where the interparticle interactions are the triple-well potential. By use of the so called effective potential method, numerical solutions of the eigenvalue problem are used to work out the exact phase diagrams of W, a triple-well potential. According to the winding number \varOmega and the rotation number \omega, we analyze the periodicity of the phase diagram and find some complex but regular phase structures. These new structures result from the triple-well interatomic interactions. A series of new transition behaviors enrich the traditional understanding on the periodicity of CI transitions.