Tricritical Spinodal Decomposition in a Two-Dimensional Metamagnet

Abstract

Results are presented of a Monte Carlo study of the spinodal decomposition of a two-dimensional metamagnet, quenched from an initial high-temperature disordered state to below its tricritical point. It is found that the structure factors for both the order parameter and magnetization exhibit instability as manifested via growing peaks. The order-parameter structure factor $S(k,t)\mathrm{}$ is shown to exhibit an early-time scaling of the form $t^{-2x}S(k,t)=F\left(k{t}^x\right)$, with $x\simeq 0.35$, where $k$ is the wave number and $t$ the time.