Related papers: Ferroelectric ordering and electroclinic effect in…
Chirality in solids is attracting growing attention as a potential ferroic order, yet virtually no paradigmatic example of a soft-mode achiral-to-chiral phase transition has been firmly established to date. Here we identify ferroelectric…
We study the electro-optic properties of subwavelength-pitch deformed-helix ferroelectric liquid crystals (DHFLC) illuminated with unpolarized light. In the experimental setup based on the Mach-Zehnder interferometer, it was observed that…
Using Monte Carlo simulation methods, we explore the role of molecular shape in the phase behavior of liquid crystals and the electroclinic effect. We study a "bent-rod" mesogen shaped like the letter Z, composed of seven soft spheres…
Materials possessing long range ordering of magnetic spins or electric dipoles have been the focus of condensed matter research. Among them, ferri-systems with two sublattices of unequal/noncollinear spins or electric dipoles are expected…
Ferroelectric domain nucleation and growth in multiferroic BiFeO3 films is observed directly by applying a local electric field with a conductive tip inside a scanning transmission electron microscope. The nucleation and growth of a…
The short-range order which remains when the isotropic to smectic-A transition is perturbed by a gel of silica nanoparticles (aerosils) has been studied using high-resolution synchrotron x-ray diffraction. The gels have been created…
Chiral twisting of the molecular orientation within the layer of a smectic-A liquid crystal has been investigated using circular dichroism spectroscopy. The results indicate that a rotation of the layers away from the alignment direction is…
Nanoscale polarization switching in ferroelectric materials by Piezoresponse Force Microscopy (PFM) in weak and strong indentation limits is analyzed using exact solutions for electrostatic and coupled electroelastic fields below the tip.…
A mesoscopic spin valve is used to determine the effective spin polarization of electrons tunneling from and into ferromagnetic transition metals at finite voltages. The tunneling spin polarization from the ferromagnet (FM) slowly decreases…
Physical nature of "giant" magnetocaloric and electrocaloric effects, MCE and ECE, is explained in terms of the new fundamentals of phase transitions, ferromagnetism and ferroelectricity. It is the latent heat of structural…
Ferronematic phases, composed of liquid crystals doped with magnetic nanoparticles, exhibit unique magnetomechanical coupling effects that are of interest for responsive materials. In this study, we investigate the influence of…
The emergent behaviors in thin films of a multiaxial ferroelectric due to an electrochemical coupling between the rotating polarization and surface ions are explored within the framework of the 2-4 Landau-Ginzburg-Devonshire (LGD)…
Ferroelectric materials can switch their polarization in response to an applied electric field. In this work, ferroelectricity at the single molecule level is proposed and investigated using density functional theory (DFT) calculations.…
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…
A flux liquid can condense into a smectic crystal in a pure layered superconductors with the magnetic field oriented nearly parallel to the layers. If the smectic order is commensurate with the layering, this crystal is {\sl stable} to…
The bulk photovoltaic effect that is intimately associated with crystalline symmetry has been extensively studied in various nonmagnetic materials, especially ferroelectrics with a switchable electric polarization. In order to further…
Domain wall dynamics in ferroic materials underpins functionality of data storage and information technology devices. Using localized electric field of a scanning probe microscopy tip, we experimentally demonstrate a surprisingly rich range…
Collinear dipole orders such as ferroelectricity and antiferroelectricity have developed rapidly in last decades. While, the noncollinear dipole orders are rarely touched in solids. Noncollinear dipole orders can provide a route to realize…
Polar textures have attracted significant attention in recent years as a promising analog to spin-based textures in ferromagnets. Here, using optical second harmonic generation based circular dichroism, we demonstrate deterministic and…
Strong coupling between electrical and mechanical phenomena and the presence of switchable polarization have enabled applications of ferroelectric materials for nonvolatile memories (FeRAM), data storage, and ferroelectric lithography.…