Experiments on multicritical points

Crystals undergoing structural phase transitions show, under application of uniaxial stress, a rich variety of multicritical points due to symmetry breaking. Most of the results were obtained in crystals with perovskite structure which are cubic at high temperatures. This paper will review the observation of bicritical behavior in SrTiO3 and LaAlO3, a tetracritical point in LaAiO3 and, most recently, [110]-stress experiments proving the cubic fixed point to be stable Of higher sophistication are fluctuation-induced Lifshiftz tricritical behavior in RbCaF3 and double tricritical points in KMnF3. The possible observation of a critical end point on a first-order Potts line in SrTiO3 and KMnF3 is mentioned. © 1984, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. All rights reserved.