Transition from two-dimensional to three-dimensional melting in Langmuir-Blodgett films

Abstract

Results of energy-dispersive X-ray reflectivity and grazing incidence diffraction studies of Langmuir-Blodgett films exhibited evolution of conventional three-dimensional melting from continuous melting, characteristic of two-dimensional systems, as a function of deposited monolayers. Continuous expansion followed by a sharp phase transition of the in-plane lattice was observed before the melting point and found to be independent of number of deposited layers. Evolution of conventional melting with an increase in the number of monolayers could be quantified by measuring stiffness against tilting of the vertical stack of molecules, which are kept together by an internal field. The internal field as defined in this model reduces as the in-plane lattice expands and the sample temperature approaches melting point. The sharpness of the melting transition, which has been approximated by a Langevin function, increases with the number of deposited monolayers.