Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Dielectric Response Spectrum Of A Damped One- Dimensional Double-Well Oscillator, John W. Flocken, R. A. Guenther, John R. Hardy, L. L. Boyer

Physics Faculty Publications

The characteristic features of the dielectric response spectrum associated with the condensation of a "soft" phonon mode during a ferroelectric phase transition can be reproduced by an oscillator moving in a damped linear double-well potential. The behavior of the response function below the transition temperature T, can be simulated by introducing a linear mean-field coupling which destroys the symmetry of the well. Potentials derived from physically realistic parameters are shown to result in dielectric responses which are in order-of-magnitude agreement with experimental values.