We investigate the phenomenon of phase organization in charge density waves. Coppersmith and Littlewood [87] have argued that charge density waves become organized into a "minimally stable" state when subject to a pulsed driving force. They have also proposed that the pulse duration memory effect, observed by Fleming and Schneemeyer [86], is evidence for this self organizing behaviour. / We review the microscopic origins of charge density waves, experimental results, and theoretical models of charge density waves. We also review theories of complex systems, and, in particular, the phase organization theory proposed by Tang et al. [87]. We focus on how the phase organization theory applies to the dynamics of charge density waves. / We investigate phase organization in a model of elastically coupled particles subject to a periodic potential and a pulsed driving force. By numerical simulation of the model, we show that the phase organization behaviour is contingent on the existence of a large number of inequivalent metastable configurations in the model. We also show that this model is equivalent to a purely elastic model of charge density waves interacting with impurities. / We further investigate phase organization in a model of charge density waves that has been proposed by Karttunen et al. [99], in which the dynamical generation of phase slips is naturally accounted for. Based on the results of numerical simulations, we argue that phase slips reduce or eliminate the phase organization behaviour of charge density waves by breaking the elasticity of the system.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.31189 |
| Date | January 2000 |
| Creators | Bates, Wilfred Mark. |
| Contributors | Grant, Martin (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Science (Department of Physics.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001810908, proquestno: MQ70379, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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