Related papers: Liquid Crystal-Solid Interface Structure at the An…
Based on the earlier published theory (\textit{Nature Mat}. \textbf{18}, 223--228 (2019)), a comprehensive experimental investigation of multiferroic quantum critical behavior of (Eu,Ba,Sr)TiO$_3$ polycrystalline and single crystal samples…
We study the possibility of pressure-induced transitions from a normal semiconductor to a topological insulator (TI) in bismuth tellurohalides using density functional theory and tight-binding method. In BiTeI this transition is realized…
The discovery of fluid states of matter with spontaneous bulk polar order is appreciated as a major discovery in the fields of soft matter and liquid crystals. Typically, this manifests as polar order superimposed atop conventional phase…
A non-invasive, in-situ calibration method for Total Internal Reflection Microscopy (TIRM) based on optical tweezing is presented which greatly expands the capabilities of this technique. We show that by making only simple modifications to…
We present molecular dynamics simulations of a realistic model of an ultrathin film of BaTiO$_3$ sandwiched between short-circuited electrodes to determine and understand effects of film thickness, epitaxial strain and the nature of…
The insulator-metal transition in single crystal La(5/8-y)Pr(y)Ca(3/8)MnO3 with y=0.35 was studied using synchrotron x-ray diffraction, electric resistivity, magnetic susceptibility, and specific heat measurements. Despite the dramatic drop…
Exponentially localized surface states are the most distinctive property of a crystal with non-trivial band topology. Such surface states play a key role in characterizing topological insulators (TIs), both in theory and experiments. TIs…
The (001) surfaces of polar perovskites BaTiO$_3$ and PbTiO$_3$ have been studied from first principles at T=0 K. For both cases of polarization, the most stable TiO-terminated interfaces show intrinsic ferroelectricity. In the topmost…
Fluorescence detection, either involving propagating or near-field emission, is widely being used in spectroscopy, sensing and microscopy. Total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) confines fluorescence excitation by an evanescent…
We study under which general conditions a pair of Dirac points in the electronic spectrum of a two-dimensional crystal may merge into a single one. The merging signals a topological transition between a semi-metallic phase and a band…
We present an infrared spectroscopy study of ZrTe$_5$, which confirms a recent theoretical proposal that this material exhibits a temperature-driven topological quantum phase transition from a weak to a strong topological insulating state…
The distinctive characteristics of water, evident in its thermodynamic anomalies, have implications across disciplines from biology to geophysics. Considered a valid hypothesis to rationalize its unique properties, a liquid-liquid phase…
By performing first-principles calculations on four capacitor structures based on BaTiO3 and PbTiO3, we determine the intrinsic interfacial effects that are responsible for the destabilization of the polar state in thin-film ferroelectric…
Solids with strong electron correlations generally develop exotic phases of electron matter at low temperatures. Among such systems, the heavy-fermion semi-metal URu2Si2 presents an enigmatic transition at To = 17.5 K to a `hidden order'…
We predict that unpolarized charge current injected into a ballistic thin film of prototypical topological insulator (TI) Bi$_2$Se$_3$ will generate a {\it noncollinear spin texture} $\mathbf{S}(\mathbf{r})$ on its surface. Furthermore, the…
Total-reflection high-energy positron diffraction (TRHEPD) is a novel experimental method for the determination of surface structure, which has been extensively developed at the Slow Positron Facility, Institute of Materials Structure…
A single crystal of lead-zirconate-titanate (PZT), composition Pb(Zr0.80Ti0.20)O3, was studied by polarized-Raman scattering as a function of temperature. Raman spectra reveal that the local structure deviates from the average structure in…
In this work we explore the overall structural behaviour of the [(CH3)2NH2][Mn(HCOO)3] multiferroic compound across the temperature range where its ferroelectric transition takes place by means of calorimetry, thermal expansion measurements…
Pure Topological Insulating materials preserve a unique electronic state comprising of bulk insulating gap and conducting surface states. Here we use bulk Bi2Se3 single crystals possessing Se vacancy defects as a prototype topological…
A complete understanding of the mechanisms for dielectric relaxation in relaxor ferroelectrics remains elusive. We used a structural refinement framework that integrates several types of experimental data to identify the nanoscale…