Section 3.1.2.1. Introduction

In the study of structural phase transitions, the crystallographer is often confronted by an ambiguous situation. Small changes in atomic positions determine structures having different space groups, and the data are generally compatible with several possible symmetry assignments. In order to make a choice, the crystallographer must be able to rely on some theoretical substrate, which will allow him to discard certain of the possible assignments.

The relevant theoretical framework in this field is the thermodynamical and symmetry considerations that form the Landau theory of phase transitions. In this chapter, we describe the ideas and results of this theory.

In the next section, we give an introduction to the main ideas of the theory by using an example consisting of a simple speculative type of structural phase transition. In Section 3.1.2.3, we discuss various situations of experimental interest relative to the thermodynamical aspect of the theory: first and second order of the transition, metastable states and thermal hysteresis. In Section 3.1.2.4, we provide a brief description, in two steps, of the general arguments constituting the foundation of the theory. In Section 3.1.2.5, we discuss the case of a structural transition actually occurring in nature and having a greater complexity than the speculative case considered in Section 3.1.2.2. In this section we also analyse the relationship between the ferroic character of a transition (see Section 3.1.1) and its order-parameter symmetry.