Abstract
This is a comprehensive report on the phase transition between two turbulent states of electroconvection in nematic liquid crystals, which was recently found by the authors to be in the directed percolation (DP) universality class [K. A. Takeuchi et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 99, 234503 (2007)]. We further investigate both static and dynamic critical behaviors of this phase transition, measuring a total of 12 critical exponents, 5 scaling functions, and 8 scaling relations, all in full agreement with those characterizing the DP class in dimensions. Developing an experimental technique to create a seed of topological-defect turbulence by pulse laser, we confirm in particular the rapidity symmetry, which is a basic but nontrivial consequence of the field-theoretic approach to DP. This provides a clear experimental realization of this outstanding truly out-of-equilibrium universality class, dominating most phase transitions into an absorbing state.
5 More- Received 24 July 2009
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.80.051116
©2009 American Physical Society
Viewpoint
Observation of directed percolation—a class of nonequilibrium phase transitions
Published 16 November 2009
Directed percolation, a class of nonequilibrium phase transitions as prominent as the Ising model in equilibrium statistical mechanics, is realized experimentally for the first time, after more than fifty years of research.
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