Phase Transitions in Confined Antiferromagnets

Confinement effects on the phase transitions in antiferromagnets are studied as a function of the surface coupling v and the surface field h for b.c.c.(110) films. Unusual topologies for the phase diagram are attained for particular combinations of v and h. It is shown that some of the characteristics of the finite‐temperature behavior of the system are driven by its low‐temperature properties and consequently can be explained in terms of a ground‐state analysis. Cluster variation free energies are used for the investigation of the finite temperature behavior.