Ferrobielastic hysteresis in α-quartz

Abstract
The ferrobielastic behavior of α‐quartz crystals under compressive stress has been investigated making use of the piezoelectric and piezo‐optic effects. The direction of mechanical stress was so chosen that secondary twinning is favored. Above a threshold of approximately 0.5 GPa, ferrobielastic switching results in a complete orientation reversal. Unexpectedly the mere removal of the mechanical constraint leads to a complete restoration of the original orientation. This retrotransition occurs between 0.1 and 0.025 GPa. This effect is discussed in terms of a simple thermodynamical model.

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