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Lecture

Phase Transitions: Metastable States

In course

PHYS-106(a): General physics : thermodynamics

Le but du cours de Physique générale est de fournir les notions de base nécessaires à la compréhension des phénomènes physiques. L'objectif est atteint lorsqu'il est possible de prévoir quantitativement les conséquences de ces phénomènes avec des outils th ...

Description

This lecture covers phase transitions, metastable states, Van der Waals gas isotherms, critical point, spinodal, saturation curve, supercooling, nucleation, and applications like cloud seeding, artificial snow, and superconductivity. It also discusses the energy exchange during phase transitions, latent heat, and complex physical phenomena involved.

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Instructors (2)

Romuald Houdré

Curriculum Vitae CV 2011 Appointed as Adjunct Professor 2006 Appointed as Maitre d'Enseignement et de Recherche 2004 Joins the "Laboratory of Quantum Electronics" led by Prof. B. Deveaud-Plédran 2001-2004 Appointed as "Adjoint Scientifique" at the Institute for Quantum Photonics and Electronics (previously Institute for Micro and Optoelectronics led by Prof. M. Ilegems) 1998 Habilitation, University Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris 6 (France) 1997 Invited researcher at NTT, Optoelectronics Department (Atsugi, Japan) 1988-2000 "Collaborateur scientifique" at the Institut for Micro and Optoelectronics with Prof. M.Ilegems at the Swiss Federal Institut of Technology in Lausanne (Switzerland). In charge of the Molecular Beam Epitaxy (1988-1996) and the research on optical microcavities (1996-2000) 1987-1988 Laboratoire de Physique de la Matière Condensée at Ecole Polytechnique (France). 1986-1987 Postdoctoral fellow at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (U.S.A.) with Prof. H.Morkoç in the molecular beam epitaxy group 1983-1985 Ph.D. thesis on the photoemission from quantum wells and superlattices under negative electron affinity at Laboratoire de Physique de la Matière Condensée, Ecole Polytechnique (France), G.Lampel and C.Hermann as advisors

Cécile Hébert

Cécile Hébert was born in France in 1970. She obtained her Ingeneer degree (physics) and her PhD degree (design of a new energy filter for transmission electron microscopy, under the direction of Prof. B. Jouffrey) at the Ecole Centrale in Paris. As a post doc with Prof. P. Schattschneider, she was working on the calculation of the fine structure of ionisation edges in EELS. As a research assistant at the Vienna University of Technology, she was one of the main participant to the CHIRALTEM project dealing with the measurement of magnetic circular dichroism in the electron microscope.

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Ontological neighbourhood

Physics

Condensed matter physics: Phase transitions

Related concepts (32)

Critical point (thermodynamics)

In thermodynamics, a critical point (or critical state) is the end point of a phase equilibrium curve. One example is the liquid–vapor critical point, the end point of the pressure–temperature curve that designates conditions under which a liquid and its vapor can coexist. At higher temperatures, the gas cannot be liquefied by pressure alone. At the critical point, defined by a critical temperature Tc and a critical pressure pc, phase boundaries vanish.

Latent heat

Latent heat (also known as latent energy or heat of transformation) is energy released or absorbed, by a body or a thermodynamic system, during a constant-temperature process—usually a first-order phase transition. Latent heat can be understood as hidden energy which is supplied or extracted to change the state of a substance (for example, to melt or vaporize it) without changing its temperature or pressure. This includes the latent heat of fusion (solid to liquid), the latent heat of vaporization (liquid to gas) and the latent heat of sublimation (solid to gas).

Superconductivity

Superconductivity is a set of physical properties observed in certain materials where electrical resistance vanishes and magnetic fields are expelled from the material. Any material exhibiting these properties is a superconductor. Unlike an ordinary metallic conductor, whose resistance decreases gradually as its temperature is lowered, even down to near absolute zero, a superconductor has a characteristic critical temperature below which the resistance drops abruptly to zero.

Supercooling

Supercooling, also known as undercooling, is the process of lowering the temperature of a liquid below its freezing point without it becoming a solid. It achieves this in the absence of a seed crystal or nucleus around which a crystal structure can form. The supercooling of water can be achieved without any special techniques other than chemical demineralization, down to . Droplets of supercooled water often exist in stratus and cumulus clouds.

Phase transition

In chemistry, thermodynamics, and other related fields, a phase transition (or phase change) is the physical process of transition between one state of a medium and another. Commonly the term is used to refer to changes among the basic states of matter: solid, liquid, and gas, and in rare cases, plasma. A phase of a thermodynamic system and the states of matter have uniform physical properties. During a phase transition of a given medium, certain properties of the medium change as a result of the change of external conditions, such as temperature or pressure.

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