Random Field Critical Scaling in a Model of Dipolar Glass and Relaxor Ferroelectric Behavior

Abstract

Heat bath Monte Carlo simulations have been used to study a 12-state discretized Heisenberg model with a new type of random field on simple cubic lattices of size $128 \times 128 \times 128$. The 12 states correspond to the [110] directions of a cube. The model has the standard nonrandom two-spin exchange term with coupling energy $J$ and a random field which consists of adding an energy $h_R$ to two of the 12 spin states, chosen randomly and independently at each site. We report on the case $h_R / J = 3$, which has a sharp phase transition at about $T_c / J = 1.40625$. Below $T_c$, the model has long-range ferroelectric order oriented along one of the eight [111] directions. At $T_c$, the behavior of the peak in the structure factor, $S ({\bf k} )$, at small $|{\bf k}|$ is a straight line on a log-log plot, which gives the result $\bar{\eta} = 1.214 \pm 0.014$. The onset of orientational order below $T_c$ is very rapid for this value of $h_R$. There are peaks in the specific heat and longitudinal susceptibility at $T_c$. Below $T_c$ there is a strong correction to ordinary scaling, which is probably caused by the cubic anisotropy, which is a dangerous irrelevant variable.