Properties of the interface in the confined Ising magnet with competing surface fields.

E. V. ALBANO; A. DE VIRGILIIS; M. MUELLER; K. BINDER

PHYSICA B - CONDENSED MATTER

Elsevier

Año: 2007 vol. 389 p. 202 - 205

0921-4526

A two-dimensional magnetic Ising system confined in an L x D geometry (L << D) in the presence of competing magnetic fields (h) acting at opposite walls along the D-direction, exhibits an interface between domains of different orientation that run parallel to the walls. In the limit L -> infinity, this interface undergoes a wetting transition that occurs at the critical curve T-w(h), so that for T < T-w(h) such an interface is bound to the walls, while for T-w(h) <= T < T-cb the interface is freely fluctuating around the center of the film, where T-cb is the bulk critical temperature. By considering both short- and long-range magnetic fields acting at the walls, we study the divergence of the (equilibrated) average position of the interface when approaching the wetting critical point. Furthermore, starting from a monodomain structure with the interface bound to one wall, we also study the dynamics of the interface unbinding.