Related papers: Ferroelectricity, SSFLC, bistability and all that
We present the main properties of ferroelectricity, with emphasis given to a specific family of hydrated ferroelectric crystals, which can serve as model systems for corresponding configurations in biology like the microtubules. An…
The standard Maxwell formulation of the problem of polarized dielectrics suffers from a number of difficulties, both conceptual and practical. These difficulties are particularly significant in the case of liquid interfaces, where the…
Electro-hydrodynamic phenomena in liquid crystals constitute an old but still very active research area. The reason is that these phenomena play the key role in various applications of liquid crystals and due to the general interest of…
Hyperferroelectrics are receiving a growing interest thanks to their unique property to retain a spontaneous polarization even in presence of a depolarizing field. Nevertheless, general microscopic mechanisms driving hyperferroelectricity,…
Numerous measurements of the dielectric constant $\epsilon$ of the recently discovered ferroelectric nematic ($N_F$) liquid crystal (LC) phase report extraordinarily large values of $\epsilon^\prime$ (up to ~30,000). We show that what is in…
Spontaneous electric polarization of solid ferroelectrics follows aligning directions of crystallographic axes. Domains of differently oriented polarization are separated by domain walls (DWs), which are predominantly flat and run along…
An unresolved issue in the theory of liquid crystals is the molecular basis of the electroclinic effect in the smectic-A phase. Recent x-ray scattering experiments suggest that, in a class of siloxane-containing liquid crystals, an electric…
Layered perovskites are a versatile class of ferroelectrics with their structural anisotropy reflected in unusual electrostatics that give rise to exceptional ferroelectric properties. These materials fall into four main families:…
The possibility that metals may support ferroelectricity is an open issue. Anderson and Blount showed that certain martensitic transitions involve inversion symmetry breaking and the formal existence of a polar axis, so 'metallic…
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…
The combination of large spontaneous polarization and fluidity makes the newly discovered ferroelectric nematic liquid crystalline phase (NF) responsive to electric fields in ways that have no counterpart in other materials. We probe this…
We present a thermodynamic description of crystal plasticity. Our formulation is based on the Langer-Bouchbinder-Lookman thermodynamic dislocation theory (TDT), which asserts the fundamental importance of an effective temperature that…
A thermal gradient-induced circular motion of particles placed on ferroelectric nematic liquid crystal sessile drops is demonstrated and explained. Unlike hurricanes and tornadoes that are the prime examples for thermal motors and where…
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…
Ionic crystals, such as solid electrolytes and complex oxides, are central to modern technologies for energy storage, sensing, actuation, and other functional applications. An important fundamental issue in the atomic and quantum-scale…
The dielectric response in relaxor ferroelectrics is analyzed in the framework a model for the polarization dynamics in the presence of polar clusters. We associate the origin of polar clusters with the atoms displaced from their…
Over the last decade, an increasing body of evidence has emerged, supporting the existence of a metastable liquid-liquid critical point in supercooled water, whereby two distinct liquid phases of different densities coexist. Analysing long…
We report the experimental determination of the structure and response to applied electric field of the lower-temperature nematic phase of the previously reported calamitic compound 4-[(4-nitrophenoxy)carbonyl]phenyl2,4-dimethoxybenzoate…
Hafnia ferroelectrics combine technological promise and unprecedented behaviors. Their peculiarity stems from the many active extrinsic mechanisms that contribute to their properties and from a continuously growing number of novel intrinsic…
This is a response to a recent paper by van Dongen, Uhrig, and E. M\"uller-Hartmann. We clarify the issues, which the above authors apparently did not fully appreciate, by referring to the microscopic foundations of Landau's Fermi Liquid…