Deuteration effect on tricritical phase transition of triglycine selenate: Calorimetric and dielectric measurements analyzed in the framework of Landau theory

Abstract

The ferroelectric phase transition of three single crystals of TGSe1−x DTGSex has been described by using specific heat, latent heat, and dielectric permittivity measurements. Pure, half-deuterated, and highly-deuterated TGSe single crystals were analyzed. Transition temperature and latent heat increase with increasing deuteration. Irrespective of the degree of deuteration, a 2-4-6 Landau model is suitable to describe the phase transition. The fourth-rank prefactor in Landau potential is found to be very sensitive to deuteration while the second-rank and the sixth-rank prefactors smoothly change with composition. The pyroelectric figure of merit for these materials has also been derived from the theoretical model.