Critical Behavior of Dynamic Phase Transitions in Ferromagnetic Thin Films

Phase transitions are fascinating physical processes describing abrupt changes of some thermodynamic quantity in a system upon changing certain variable, such as the temperature. While conventionally associated with thermodynamic equilibrium conditions, phase transitions can be observed in the non-equilibrium (dynamical) regime. This is exactly the case of the dynamic phase transition (DPT) of ferromagnets, describing abrupt changes in the dynamic behavior of magnetization. The similarities of the DPTs with the conventional equilibrium phase transition of ferromagnets are of upmost relevance to better understand the general occurrence of non-equilibrium phase transitions. In this seminar, I will explain the key aspects of our experimental characterization of the DPTs. These techniques have allowed us to determine experimentally, for the first time, the critical scaling behaviors and the associated critical exponents of the DPT.