Related papers: Tunable and Persistent Macroscopic Polarization in…
In this letter we demonstrate universal symmetry breaking by means of magnetically induced circular dichroism. Magnetic field induces forbidden at zero field atomic transitions between $\Delta F = \pm2$ hyperfine levels. In a particular…
In a solid, the electronic subsystem can exhibit incipient order with lower point group symmetry than the crystal lattice. External fields that couple to electronic order parameters have rarely been investigated, however, despite their…
We present a dynamical model of crystal growth, in which it is possible to reliably achieve asymmetric products, beginning from symmetric initial conditions and growing within an isotropic environment. The asymmetric growth is the result of…
Symmetry-breaking is pivotal for controlling ferroelectric, ferroelastic and/or ferromagnetic functions of materials, which enables applications in sensors, memories, transducers or actuators. Commonly, ferroic phases emerge from descending…
Spontaneous orientation polarization (SOP) of polar molecules is formed in vacuum-deposited films by tilting their permanent dipole moment against the substrate surface direction. In this study, we developed SOP molecules with high…
Pure NaNbO$_{3}$ is an antiferroelectric material at room temperature that irreversibly transforms to a ferroelectric polar state when subjected to an external electrical field or lattice strain. Experimentally, it has been observed that…
We propose that light can break mirror symmetries and combining symmetries with a uniform time translation, and their breaking is characterized by an off-diagonal charge conductivity. Taking periodically driven graphene as an example, we…
Interaction between dipoles often emerges intriguing physical phenomena, such as exchange bias in the magnetic heterostructures and magnetoelectric effect in multiferroics, which lead to advances in multifunctional heterostructures.…
This paper extends previous work on echo chambers modeled by an Ising-like system at zero temperature (1. Echo Chambers and random Polarization, Symmetry 2024, 16(12), 1566). There, polarization emerged as a spontaneous symmetry-breaking…
Crystal surfaces are sensitive to the surrounding environment, where atoms left with broken bonds reconstruct to minimize surface energy. In many cases, the surface can exhibit chemical properties unique from the bulk. These differences are…
Charge density waves (CDWs) with multi-component order parameters can break unexpected symmetries through the interplay of nearly degenerate instabilities. In the widely investigated material 1T-TiSe$_2$, a central question is whether the…
Spontaneous polarization is essential for ferroelectric functionality in non-centrosymmetric crystals. High-integration-density ferroelectric devices require the stabilization of ferroelectric polarization in small volumes. Here,…
Reciprocity, the principle that a system response is identical in the forward path compared to the backward path, is a fundamental concept across physics, from electrical circuits and optics to acoustics and heat conduction. Nonreciprocity…
Modern opto-electronic devices are based on semiconductor heterostructures employing the process of electron-hole pair annihilation. In particular polar materials enable a variety of classic and even quantum light sources, whose on-going…
Free electrons can screen out long-range Coulomb interaction and destroy the polar distortion in some ferroelectric materials, whereas the coexistence of polar distortion and metallicity were found in several non-central-symmetric metals…
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…
We demonstrate by breaking the $C_{6}$ symmetry for higher-order at-$\Gamma$ bound states in the continuum (BICs) with topological charge $-2$ in photonic crystals, (i) deterministic generation of off-$\Gamma$ BICs from the at-$\Gamma$ BIC,…
Perovskites with tunable and switchable polarization hold immense promise for unlocking novel functionalities. Using density-functional theory, we reveal that intrinsic defects can induce, enhance, and control polarization in…
In recent years, optical and electronic properties of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have increasingly shifted into the focus of interest of the scientific community. Here, we discuss a strategy for conveniently tuning these properties…
Tuning anisotropy in bulk metallic glasses, ideally isotropic, is of practical interest in optimizing properties and of fundamental interest in understanding the amorphous structure and its instability. By employing the quasi-elastic…