Related papers: Dislocation-induced flexoelectricity in SrTiO$_3$ …
This review examines the conditions that lead to the formation of flexo-sensitive chiral polar structures in thin films and core-shell ferroelectric nanoparticles. It also analyzes possible mechanisms by which the flexoelectric effect…
Flexoelectricity has garnered much attention owing to its ability to bring electromechanical functionality to non-piezoelectric materials and its nanoscale significance. In order to move towards a more complete understanding of this…
Micrometric domains of precise ferroelectric polarization have been written into a 20 nm thick epitaxial thin film of BaTiO3(001) (BTO) on a Nb doped SrTiO3 (STO) substrate using PiezoForce Microscopy (PFM). The domain dependent electronic…
We report on nanoscale strain gradients in ferroelectric HoMnO3 epitaxial thin films, resulting in a giant flexoelectric effect. Using grazing-incidence in-plane X-ray diffraction, we measured strain gradients in the films, which were 6 or…
Advances in complex oxide heteroepitaxy have highlighted the enormous potential of utilizing strain engineering via lattice mismatch to control ferroelectricity in thin-film heterostructures. This approach, however, lacks the ability to…
Flexoelectricity induced by strain gradient in dielectrics is highly desirable for electromechanical actuating and sensing systems. It is broadly adopted that flexoelectric polarization responds linearly to strain gradient without…
Flexoelectricity is defined as the coupling between strain gradient and polarization, which is expected to be remarkable at nanoscale. However, measuring the flexoelectricity at nanoscale is challenging. In the present work, an analytical…
Weakly coupled ferroelectric/dielectric superlattice thin film heterostructures exhibit complex nanoscale polarization configurations that arise from a balance of competing electrostatic, elastic, and domain-wall contributions to the free…
Upon application of a uniform strain, internal sub-lattice shifts within the unit cell of a non-centrosymmetric dielectric crystal result in the appearance of a net dipole moment: a phenomenon well known as piezoelectricity. A macroscopic…
Doped HfO2 thin films exhibit robust ferroelectric properties even for nanometric thicknesses, are compatible with current Si technology and thus have great potential for the revival of integrated ferroelectrics. Phase control and…
The ferroelectric domain pattern within lithographically defined PbTiO3/SrTiO3 ferroelectric/dielectric heteroepitaxial superlattice nanostructures is strongly influenced by the edges of the structures. Synchrotron x-ray nanobeam…
A reduction of polarization in ultra-thin ferroelectric films appears to be fundamental to ferroelectricity at the nanoscale. For the model system PbTiO3 on SrTiO3, we report observation of the polarization vs. thickness relation. Distinct…
Using the classic ferroelectric BaTiO$_3$ as an example, we show that the 180 degree ferroelectric domain wall, long considered to be of Ising-type and charge neural, contains both Bloch and Neel type polarization components, and is thus…
We elucidate the flexoelectricity of materials in the high strain gradient regime, of which the underlying mechanism is less understood. By using the generalized Bloch theorem, we uncover a strong flexoelectric-like effect in bent thinfilms…
Electric fields have played a key role in discovering and controlling exotic electronic states of condensed matter. However, electric fields usually do not work in metals as free carriers tend to screen electrostatic fields. While a…
Symmetry breaking at surfaces and interfaces and the capability to support large strain gradients in nanoscale systems enable new forms of electromechanical coupling. Here we introduce the concept of quantum flexoelectricity, a phenomenon…
The wealth of complex polar topologies recently found in nanoscale ferroelectrics result from a delicate balance between the materials intrinsic tendency to develop a homogeneous polarization and the electric and mechanic boundary…
Multiple experiments have observed a sharp transition in the band structure of LaAlO$_3$/SrTiO$_3$ (001) interfaces as a function of applied gate voltage. This Lifshitz transition, between a single occupied band at low electron density and…
Heterostructures consisting of PbZr0.2Ti0.8O3 and PbZr0.4Ti0.6O3 films grown on a SrTiO3 (100) substrate with a SrRuO3 bottom electrode were prepared by pulsed laser deposition. Using the additional interface provided by the ferroelectric…
SrTiO$_3$ is an incipient ferroelectric on the verge of a polar instability, which is avoided at low temperatures by quantum fluctuations. Within this unusual quantum paraelectric phase, superconductivity persists despite extremely dilute…