Related papers: Electrostatics and domains in ferroelectric superl…
Using the self-consistent Landau-Ginzburg-Devonshire approach we simulate and analyze the spontaneous formation of the domain structure in thin ferroelectric films covered with the surface screening charge of the specific nature…
Ferroelectrics are technologically important, with wide application in micromechanical systems, nonlinear optics, and information storage. Recent discoveries of exotic polarisation textures in these materials, which can strongly influence…
The newly-discovered ferroelectric nematic liquid crystal exhibits a variety of unique defect phenomena. The depolarization field in the material favors spontaneous spatial variations in polarization, manifesting in diverse forms such as…
Nanoscale ferroelectric topologies such as vortices, anti-vortices, bubble patterns etc. are stabilized in thin films by a delicate balance of both mechanical and electrical boundary conditions. A systematic understanding of the phase…
We report electrically switchable polarization and ferroelectric domain scaling over a thickness range of 5-100 nm in BiFeO3 films deposited on [110] vicinal substrates. The BiFeO3 films of variable thickness were deposited with SrRuO3…
We study the domain structure in ferroelectric thin films with a `passive' layer (material with damaged ferroelectric properties) at the interface between the film and electrodes within a continuous medium approximation. An abrupt…
Domain walls in ferroelectrics exhibit a plethora of phases and functionalities not found in the bulk. The interplay of electrostatic, chemical, topological, and distortive inhomogeneities at the walls can be so complex, however, that this…
Flat phonon bands in fluorite ferroelectrics (HfO2 or ZrO2) shrink polar domains laterally to an irreducible half-unit-cell width (0.27 nm) within which the vertical arrangement of dipoles is expected to remain uniform. We report on the…
Using a first-principles-based approach, we determine the ferroelectric pattern in PbZr$_{0.5}$Ti$_{0.5}$O$_3$ ultrathin film. It is found that vortex stripes are formed in the system and they are responsible for the 180$^\circ$ domains…
We study the ferroelectric stability and surface structural properties of an oxygen-terminated hexagonal YMnO$_3$ ultra-thin film using density functional theory. Under an open circuit boundary condition, the ferroelectric state with the…
We investigate theoretically the polarization switching kinetics in ferroelectric thin films. In such substances, the domain walls are pinned by (usually dipole) defects, which are present also in ordered samples as technologically…
Materials with reduced dimensions have been shown to host a wide variety of exotic properties and novel quantum states that often defy textbook wisdom1-5. Ferroelectric polarization and metallicity are well-known examples of mutually…
Ferroelectric domains were investigated using piezoresponse force microscopy in superlattices composed of multiferroic BiFeO3 and SrTiO3 layers. Compared to single BiFeO3 thin films, a reduction in the domains size and a suppression of the…
With the recent experimental verification that ferroelectric lattice distortions survive in the metallic phase of some materials, there is a desire to create devices that are both switchable and take advantage of the novel functionalities…
Against expectations, robust switchable ferroelectricity has been recently observed in ultrathin (1 nm) ferroelectric films exposed to air [V. Garcia $et$ $al.$, Nature {\bf 460}, 81 (2009)]. Based on first-principles calculations, we show…
When two-dimensional crystals are brought into close proximity, their interaction results in strong reconstruction of electronic spectrum and local crystal structure. Such reconstruction strongly depends on the twist angle between the two…
We consider a typical heterostructure domain patterned ferroelectric film/ultra thin dielectric layer/ semiconductor, where the semiconductor can be an electrolyte, paraelectric or multi layered graphene. Unexpectedly we have found that the…
The equilibrium domain structure and its evolution under an electric field in ferroelectric bilayers and graded multilayers are considered. The equilibrium bilayer is self-poled and contains a single-domain and a polydomain (with 180…
The metastability of the polar phase in HfO2, despite its excellent compatibility with the complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor process, remains a key obstacle for its industrial applications. Traditional stabilization approaches, such…
A Landau-Ginsburg-Devonshire-type nonlinear phenomenological theory is presented, which enables the thermodynamic description of dense laminar polydomain states in epitaxial ferroelectric thin films. The theory explicitly takes into account…