Related papers: Tilt-driven antiferroelectricity in PbZrO$_3$
Lead zirconate (PbZrO$_3$) is considered the prototypical antiferroelectric material with an antipolar ground state. Yet, several experimental and theoretical works hint at a partially polar behaviour in this compound, indicating that the…
We study the interplay of structural and polar distortions in hexagonal YMnO3 and short-period PbTiO3/SrTiO3 superlattices by means of first-principles calculations at constrained electric displacement field D. We find that in YMnO3 the…
Size-driven transition of an antiferroelectric into a polar ferroelectric or ferrielectric state is a strongly debated issue from both experimental and theoretical perspectives. While critical thickness limits for such transitions have been…
Antiferroelectrics attract broad attention due to their unusual physical characteristics, chief among which is the double-hysteresis loop that separates their antipolar ground state from the voltage-induced polar phase, which is promising…
While nature provides a plethora of perovskite materials, only a few exhibits large ferroelectricity and possibly multiferroicity. The majority of perovskite materials have the non-polar CaTiO$_3$(CTO)structure, limiting the scope of their…
We have studied ab initio the phase transition in PbZrO3, a perovskite oxide usually presented as the prototypic anti-ferroelectric material. Our work reveals the crucial role that anti-ferrodistortive modes -- involving concerted rotations…
Although ferroelectric materials are characterised by their parallel arrangement of electric dipoles, in the right boundary conditions these dipoles can reorganize themselves into vortices, antivortices and other non-trivial topological…
The prototypical antiferroelectric PbZrO$_3$ has several unsettled questions, such as the nature of the antiferroelectric transition, possible intermediate phase and the microscopic origin of the Pbam ground state. Using first principles,…
There has been tremendous research activity in the field of magneto-electric (ME) multiferroics after Kimura et al. [1] showed that antiferromagnetic and ferroelectric order coexist in orthorhom- bically distorted perovskite TbMnO3 and are…
We introduce the concept of antiferron modes in ferroelectric materials as dynamically stabilized collective excitations over inverted polarization states that decrease the system energy. While ferrons represent quantized oscillations…
Ferroelectricity in perovskites is known to be suppressed by a moderate hydrostatic pressure. The notion that a polar instability should reappear in a higher pressure regime is well accepted theoretically but experiments have failed so far…
Combining ferroelectricity with other properties such as visible light absorption or long-range magnetic order requires the discovery of new families of ferroelectric materials. Here, through the analysis of a high-throughput database of…
We study the electrical behavior of multiferroic BiFeO$_3$ by means of first-principles calculations. We do so by constraining a specific component of the electric displacement field along a variety of structural paths, and by monitoring…
The recent observation of a ferroelectric-like structural transition in metallic LiOsO$_3$ has generated a flurry of interest in the properties of polar metals. Such materials are thought to be rare because free electrons screen out the…
In the archetypal antiferroelectric PbZrO3, antiparallel electric dipoles cancel each other, resulting in zero spontaneous polarisation at the macroscopic level. Yet in actual hysteresis loops, the cancellation is rarely perfect and some…
Proximity ferroelectricity is a novel paradigm for inducing ferroelectricity in a non-ferroelectric polar material such as AlN or ZnO that are typically unswitchable with an external field below their dielectric breakdown field. When placed…
A novel atomistic effective Hamiltonian scheme, incorporating an original and simple bilinear energetic coupling, is developed and used to investigate the temperature dependent physical properties of the prototype antiferroelectric PbZrO3…
From lithium-ion batteries to high-temperature superconductors, oxide materials have been widely used in electronic devices. However, demands of future technologies require materials beyond oxides, as anion chemistries distinct from oxygen…
Antiferroelectrics are emerging as advanced functional materials and are fertile ground for unusual electric effects. For example, they enhance the recoverable energy density in energy storage applications and give rise to large…
Ferroic transition metal oxides, which exhibit spontaneous elastic, electrical, magnetic or toroidal order, exhibit functional properties that find use in ultrastable solid-state memories to sensors and medical imaging technologies. To…