Synchrotron infrared reflectance and absorbance spectroscopy reveals a cascading sequence of pressure-induced Fermi resonances in compressed H2O and D2O ices up to and through the transition to the symmetric hydrogen-bonded phase. These resonances arise from the extremely large pressure shift of the O-H(D) stretching mode associated with the transition, which causes multiple avoided crossings b...

The autocorrelation function of pattern fluctuation is used to study soft-mode turbulence (SMT), a spatiotemporal chaos observed in homeotropic nematics. We show that relaxation near the electroconvection threshold deviates from the exponential. To describe this relaxation, we propose a compressed exponential appearing in dynamics of glass-forming liquids. Our findings suggest that coherent mot...

We have studied electric-field-induced Raman scattering in SrTiO3 thin films using an indium-tin-oxide/SrTiO3/SrRuO3 structure grown by pulsed laser deposition. The soft mode polarized along the field becomes Raman active. Experimental data for electric-field-induced hardening of the soft modes and the tuning of the static dielectric constant are in agreement described by the Lyddane-Sachs-Tell...

We investigate electron-phonon coupling in many-electron systems using the dynamical mean-field theory in combination with the numerical renormalization group. This nonperturbative method reveals significant precursor effects to the gap formation at intermediate coupling strengths. The emergence of a soft phonon mode and very strong lattice fluctuations can be understood in terms of Kondo-like ...

The frictional forces in suspensions vary depending on the size, shape, and the surface of the particles, which are either charged or neutral. For anisotropic particles with no spatial gradient in the order parameter under external parameters, they exhibit either a continuous phase transition or "freezing" of the order parameter fluctuation. They are known as the collective soft-mode, which has...

Studying mechanical deformation at the surface of soft materials has been challenging due to the difficulty in separating surface deformation from the bulk elasticity of the materials. Here, we introduce a new approach for studying the surface mechanical deformation of a soft material by utilizing a large number of self-propelled microprobes driven by motor proteins on the surface of the materi...