Related papers: Photo-magnetization in two-dimensional sliding fer…
The rhombohedral (r) polytypes of transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) constitute a novel class of two-dimensional ferroelectric materials, where lateral shifts between parallel layers induce reversible out-of-plane polarization. This…
Interfacial ferroelectricity, prevalent in various parallel-stacked layered materials, allows switching of out-of-plane ferroelectric order by in-plane sliding of adjacent layers. Its resilience against doping potentially enables…
Ferromagnetism is typically discussed in terms of the exchange interaction and magnetic anisotropies. Yet real samples are inevitably affected by the magnetostatic dipole-dipole interaction. Because of this interaction, a theorem (R.B.…
Multiferroics, where two or more ferroic order parameters coexist, is one of the hottest fields in condensed matter physics and materials science[1-9]. However, the coexistence of magnetism and conventional ferroelectricity is physically…
Van der Waals "sliding" ferroelectric bilayers, whose electric polarization is locked to the interlayer alignment, show promise for future non-volatile memory and other nanoelectronic devices. These applications require a fuller…
The pursuit for "ferroelectric metal" which combines seemingly incompatible spontaneous electric polarization and metallicity, has been assiduously ongoing but remains elusive. Unlike traditional ferroelectrics with a wide band gap,…
Magnetism - the spontaneous alignment of atomic moments in a material - is driven by quantum-mechanical `exchange' interactions which operate over atomic distances as a result of the fundamental symmetry of electrons. Currently, one of the…
A femtosecond laser pulse is able to switch the magnetic state of a 3d-4f ferrimagnetic material on a pico-second time scale. Devices based on this all-optical switching (AOS) mechanism are competitive candidates for ultrafast memory…
Ferroelectric ordering in liquids is a fundamental question of physics. Here, we show that ferroelectric ordering of the molecules causes formation of recently reported splay nematic liquid-crystalline phase. As shown by dielectric…
Experimentally observed ultrafast all-optical magnetization reversal in ferrimagnetic metals and heterostructures based on antiferromagnetically coupled ferromagnetic $d-$ and $f-$metallic layers relies on intricate energy and angular…
Right- and left-handed circularly polarized light interact differently with electronic charges in chiral materials. This asymmetry generates the natural circular dichroism and gyrotropy, also known as the optical activity. Here we…
The parallel or antiparallel arrangement of electron spins plays a pivotal role in determining the properties of a physical system. To meet the demands for innovative technological solutions, extensive efforts have been dedicated to…
Leveraging coherent light-matter interaction in solids is a promising new direction towards control and functionalization of quantum materials, to potentially realize regimes inaccessible in equilibrium and stabilize new or useful states of…
Photostriction is predicted for SnS and SnSe monolayers, two-dimensional ferroelectrics with rectangular unit cells (the lattice vector $\mathbf{a}_1$ is larger than $\mathbf{a}_2$) and an intrinsic dipole moment parallel to $\mathbf{a}_1$.…
The electronic bandgap of a material is often fixed after fabrication. The capability to realize on-demand and non-volatile control over the bandgap will unlock exciting opportunities for adaptive devices with enhanced functionalities and…
Light carries both spin and momentum. Spin-orbit interactions of light come into play at the subwavelength scale of nano-optics and nano-photonics, where they determine the behaviour of light. These phenomena, in which the spin affects and…
Ferroelectricity, a hallmark of spontaneous inversion-symmetry breaking, has been a central concept in condensed matter physics and functional materials research, yet recent discoveries are revealing that switchable polarization can emerge…
Light-matter interactions are often considered governed by the electric optical field only, leaving aside the magnetic component of light. However, the magnetic part plays a determining role in many optical processes from light and…
Low dimensional ferroelectrics are highly desired for applications and full of exotic physics. Here a functionalized MXene Hf$_2$CF$_2$ monolayer is theoretically studied, which manifests a nonpolar to polar transition upon moderate biaxial…
Angular- or $k$-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy in the soft X-ray range gives access to the bulk electronic structure of materials. Here this technique is extended to the spin degree of freedom. A non-magnetic material (tungsten) was…