Electrical and mechanical switching of ferroelectric polarization in the 70 nm BiFeO3 film

Reliable polarization switching of BiFeO3.

As a room temperature multi-ferroic with coexisting anti-ferromagnetic, ferroelectric and ferroelastic orders, BiFeO(3) has been extensively studied to realize magnetoelectric devices that enable manipulation of magnetic ordering by an electric field. Moreover, BiFeO(3) is a promising candidate for ferroelectric memory devices because it has the largest remanent polarization (P(r)>100 μC cm(-2)...

Nanoscale mechanical switching of ferroelectric polarization via flexoelectricity

Interaction between Ferroelectric Polarization and Defects in BiFeO3 Thin Films

Nanoscale impurity defects, with structures different from host materials, are known to commonly exist in functional complex oxides as a result of slight stoichiometry fluctuations that occur during material growth. Local perturbations induced by these defects, such as charge, strain, and atomic interaction, could have a profound effect on the physical properties of oxide nanomaterials. A direc...

Mechanical writing of ferroelectric polarization.

Ferroelectric materials are characterized by a permanent electric dipole that can be reversed through the application of an external voltage, but a strong intrinsic coupling between polarization and deformation also causes all ferroelectrics to be piezoelectric, leading to applications in sensors and high-displacement actuators. A less explored property is flexoelectricity, the coupling between...

Mechanical switching of ferroelectric rubber.

At the A to C transition, smectic elastomers have recently been observed to undergo approximately 35% spontaneous shear strains. We first explicitly describe how strains of up to twice this value could be mechanically or electrically induced in Sm-C elastomers by rotation of the director on a cone around the layer normal with an elastic cost dependent on constraints. Second, for typical sample ...