Orientational effects in chevron smectics C* in an external electric field

The orientational properties of a ferroelectric smectic C* that forms a chevron structure in a bounded cell in a weak electric field have been described theoretically. Two spatial distributions of the director that transform into each other with a change in the field direction to the opposite direction have been calculated. It has been shown that the hysteresis should be observed in this transition, and the threshold field that results in the director reorientation with a change in the field direction has been estimated.     

Electric-field-induced polar biaxial order in a nontilted smectic phase of an asymmetric bent-core liquid crystal

A polarization reorientation process has been studied by means of optical second-harmonic generation in an optically uniaxial smectic phase of an asymmetric bent-core liquid crystal. A nontilted polar smectic order with a biaxial order is induced by applying an electric field to the uniaxial nonpolar smectic phase. This phenomenon was well simulated by the two-dimensional Langevin process, i.e., electric-field-induced continuous molecular reorientation against thermal agitation. The simulation suggests that about 200s of molecules form a polar domain and cooperatively respond to the applied field. The existence of the polar domains and their reorientation are consistent to the dielectric measurement; a high dielectric constant of about 60 at the kHz range is markedly suppressed by applying a bias field.     

Electrogravitational instability of cylindrical interface acted upon by a varying electric field

The electrodynamic instability of a self-gravitating dielectric fluid penetrated by a uniform axial electric field surrounded by a self-gravitating vacuum pervaded by a varying electric field is investigated. A general eigenvalue relation valid to all possible (symmetric and asymmetric) modes of perturbation for all (short and long) wavelengths is derived and discussed in detail. The model is gravitationally stable to the pure asymmetric disturbances modes while to symmetric modes it is as if the longitudinal wavenumber normalized with respect to the jet radius is equal to or greater than 1.0668 and vice versa. The axial electric fields pervaded interior and exterior to the cylinder are stabilizing for all disturbances modes according to some restrictions. The transverse varying electric field is purely stabilizing in the symmetric disturbance for all wavelengths, while it is stabilizing in the asymmetric disturbance under some restrictions. The electrodynamic force has a strong stabilizing influence in the symmetric mode and can suppress the gravitational instability above a certain value of the basic electric field.     

Photogalvanic current in electron gas over a liquid helium surface

We study the stationary surface photocurrent in 2D electron gas near the helium surface. Electron gas is assumed to be attracted to the helium surface due to the image attracting force and an external stationary electric field. The alternating electric field has both vertical and in-plane components. The photogalvanic effect originates from the periodic transitions of electrons between quantum subbands in the vertical direction caused by a normal component of the alternating electric field accompanied by synchronous in-plane acceleration/deceleration due to the electric field in-plane component. The effect needs vertical asymmetry of the system. The problem is considered taking into account a friction caused by the electron-ripplon interaction. The photocurrent resonantly depends on the field frequency. The resonance occurs at field frequencies close to the distance between well subbands. The resonance is symmetric or antisymmetric depending on the kind (linear or circular) of polarization.     

Deaging and asymmetric energy landscapes in electrically biased ferroelectrics

In ferroic materials, the dielectric, piezoelectric, magnetic, and elastic coefficients are significantly affected by the motion of domain walls. This motion can be described as the propagation of a wall across various types and strengths of pinning centers that collectively constitute a force profile or energetic landscape. Biased domain structures and asymmetric energy landscapes can be created through application of high fields (such as during electrical poling), and the material behavior in such states is often highly asymmetric. In some cases, this behavior can be considered as the electric analogue to the Bauschinger effect. The present Letter uses time-resolved, high-energy x-ray Bragg scattering to probe this asymmetry and the associated deaging effect in the ferroelectric morphotropic phase boundary composition 0.36BiScO3 - 0.64PbTiO3.     

Photogalvanic current in a double quantum well

A double quantum well affected by external alternating electric field with in- and out-of-plane components is studied. This field causes transitions between near-degenerate states located in different wells. The phototransitions are accompanied by the in-plane momentum nonconservation caused by the impurity scattering. We study the in-plane stationary current due to the lack of the in-plane symmetry of these indirect phototransitions. It is shown that the value and direction of the current are determined by the polarization of light. The linear and circular photogalvanic coefficients are found. When the photon energy approaches the distance between subbands these coefficients have their symmetric and antisymmetric resonance behaviors, respectively.     

Photogalvanic current in a parabolic well

We study the in-plane stationary photocurrent in a parabolic potential well. The well has vertical asymmetry due to inhomogeneous distribution of scatterers. The electric field of light has both vertical and in-plane components. The photogalvanic effect originates from the periodic oscillation of electrons in a vertical direction caused by the normal component of the alternating electric field with simultaneous in-plane acceleration/deceleration by the in-plane component of electric field. The problem is considered in classical approximation assuming inhomogeneously-distributed friction. Photocurrent has a resonance character. Resonance occurs at light frequencies close to a characteristic well frequency. The effect of in-plane magnetic field is also studied.     

Shearing of planar smectic C chevrons

We have theoretically investigated chevron formation in smectic C materials and the transformation of this chevron structure to a tilted layer structure as the cell is sheared. We find a series of transition temperatures at which the behaviour of the cell critically changes. As the cell is cooled from the smectic A phase past the first critical temperature there is a second order transition which forms two tilted layer states with lower energy than the smectic A bookshelf structure. Although these low energy tilted structures exist the bookshelf structure is the stable state for zero shear. However, upon further cooling this bookshelf structure becomes unstable to the formation of a chevron state. Now when the cell is sheared the chevron structure smoothly transforms into the tilted layer structure. As each further critical temperature is passed an additional multiple chevron solution is formed which although a high energy, unstable state may be observed transiently. For sufficiently low temperatures the transition from chevron to tilted layer becomes first order. This first order transition occurs as the chevron interface merges with the surface alignment region to form the tilted layer structure. Received 28 December 1998 and Received in final form 8 April 1999     

Electroclinic liquid crystals with large induced tilt angle and small layer contraction

Optical and x-ray scattering studies of a chiral, organosiloxane smectic-A liquid crystal indicate a large field induced optical tilt of up to 31 degrees accompanied by a very small contraction of the smectic layers. This result suggests that the molecules have a nonzero tilt even with no applied field, and that the primary effect of the field is to induce long range order in the direction of the molecular tilt.     

Isolating the interface magnetocrystalline anisotropy contributions in magnetic multilayers

The interface magnetocrystalline anisotropy energy (MAE) in Fe/CeH(2) multilayers has been site and element-specifically isolated by combining soft x-ray resonant magnetic scattering (SXRMS) with soft x-ray standing waves. Using the different temperature evolutions of the Fe and Ce SXRMS contributions, following an in-plane to out-of-plane spin reorientation, the interface Fe 3d MAE and Ce 4f single-ion anisotropy have been separated. The results demonstrate that the transition metal interface MAE dominates the spin reorientation while the rare-earth contribution becomes significant only at much lower temperatures.     

Rectification in substituted atomic wires: a theoretical insight

Recently, there have been discussions that the giant diode property found experimentally in diblock molecular junctions could be enhanced by the many-body electron correlation effect beyond the mean field theory. In addition, the effect of electron-phonon scattering on an electric current through the diode molecule, measured by inelastic tunneling spectroscopy (IETS), was found to be symmetric with respect to the voltage sign change even though the current is asymmetric. The reason for this behavior is a matter of speculation. In order to clarify whether or not this feature is limited to organic molecules in the off-resonant tunneling region, we discuss the current asymmetry effect on IETS in the resonant region. We introduced heterogeneous atoms into an atomic wire and found that IETS becomes asymmetric in this substituted atomic wire case. Our conclusion gives the other example of intrinsic differences between organic molecules and metallic wires. While the contribution of electron-phonon scattering to IETS is not affected by the current asymmetry in the former case, it is affected in the latter case. The importance of the contribution of the electron-hole excitation to phonon damping in bringing about the current asymmetry effect in IETS in the latter case is discussed.     

Magnetoresistance of an asymmetric quantum-size structure in a parallel magnetic field: Field asymmetry independent of the current direction

A new phenomenon, viz., field-asymmetric transverse magnetoresistance of a doped asymmetric quantum-size structure discovered in a magnetic field parallel to the heteroboundary planes, is studied experimentally and theoretically. The magnetoresistance asymmetry relative to the field direction, which is independent of the direction of transport current, is observed when a lateral electric field is embedded in the structure with the help of alloyed metallic contacts. In the theoretical part of the paper, it is shown that the contribution to current, which is asymmetric in the magnetic field, can be consistently described in the framework of the theory of spontaneous current states and photovoltaic effect in systems without an inversion center; the reason behind the emergence of this current is associated with the asymmetry of the energy spectrum of charge carriers relative to the quasimomentum. It is shown that the change in the size and shape of Fermi contours in a magnetic field determines the magnitude of the strong negative magnetoresistance associated with the intersubband scattering under investigation and is found to be responsible for the emergence of a qualitatively new effect mentioned in the title of this paper.     

Polarization switching without domain formation at the intrinsic coercive field in ultrathin ferroelectric PbTiO₃

Polarization switching in ferroelectrics has been thought to occur only through the nucleation and growth of new domains. Here we use in situ synchrotron x-ray scattering to monitor switching controlled by applied chemical potential. In sufficiently thin PbTiO? films, nucleation is suppressed and switching occurs by a continuous mechanism, i.e., by uniform decrease and inversion of the polarization without domain formation. The observed lattice parameter shows that the electric field in the film during switching reaches the theoretical intrinsic coercive field.     

Microsphere manipulation using ferroelectric liquid crystals

We propose a strategy for a micromanipulation method using SSFLC (surface stabilized ferroelectric liquid crystals). By adjusting the frequency of the applied ac electric field, the surface layers that cannot follow an applied ac electric field are constructed in SSFLC. In addition, by applying a sawtooth wave voltage, net flow along the smectic layer is generated. The flow direction is reversed by changing the polarity of the sawtooth wave. Consequently, the particles dispersed in SSFLC can be driven bidirectionally along the smectic layer. The particle velocity depends on the temperature, amplitude, and frequency of the applied voltage.     

Effect of surface on phase modulation of light in a nematic layer

The nanorelief of orienting surfaces in a nematic layer is studied experimentally. The initial inclination angle of the director and the phase retardation of light in the crystal are determined, and the director reorientation dynamics in the crystal under SB deformation in an electric field is analyzed. It is shown that a thin layer of amorphous hydrogenated carbon (a-C: H) deposited on a GeO monoxide layer with an anisotropic nanorelief produced by the inclined deposition method smoothens the surface topography without changing the surface structure. Modification of the structure and physicochemical properties of the GeO surface alters the conditions of the anisotropic-elastic interaction at the interface with the liquid crystal, as evidenced by an increase in the S-effect threshold and a decrease in the initial inclination of the director from 22° (on the GeO surface) to 0–6°. Strong influence of the surface nanostructure on the dynamics of the director reorientation in the electric field and on the phase modulation of light is experimentally demonstrated. It is shown that the phase retardation of light in the GeO layer covered by an a-C: H film is twice as large as in the layer of the same thickness with a virgin surface.     

Magnetic bubble domain phase at the spin reorientation transition of ultrathin Fe/Ni/Cu(001) film

Magnetic domain phases of ultrathin Fe/Ni/Cu(001) are studied using photoemission electron microscopy at the spin reorientation transition (SRT). We observe a new magnetic phase of bubble domains within a narrow SRT region after applying a nearly in-plane magnetic field pulse to the sample. By applying the magnetic field pulse along different directions, we find that the bubble domain phase exists only if the magnetic field direction is less than approximately 10 degrees relative to the sample surface. A temperature dependent measurement shows that the bubble domain phase becomes unstable above 370 K.     

Thickness-dependent of conduction mechanism and bias electric field modulation of transport properties for SrRuO3/PMN-PT heterostructures

Ultra-thin SrRuO₃ (SRO) films have been grown on ferroelectric and piezoelectric PMN-PT substrates. The structural properties of these films have been characterized by atomic force microscopy, x-ray diffraction and cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy. The nature of electric transport was analyzed in detail and the conduction mechanism of SRO films evolves through three regimes: from a three-dimensional (3D) metallic through a weakly localized to a strongly localized behavior as film thickness is reduced. The bias electric field modulations of transport properties and magnetic properties were explored for these films. We also demonstrate that ferroelectric (FE) domain switching induces a reversible tuning of the magnetic and electric properties in SRO/PMN-PT heterostructure. The FE domain switching in the substrate contributes to an in-plane strain that changes the spin exchange coupling in the SRO layer, and therefore results in a reversible resistance difference of up to 16%. This modulation effect on the electric properties by an electric field demonstrates great potential for the applications of all-oxides spintronics devices.     

Field asymmetry of the dynamic gain coefficient in organic photorefractive devices

The performance of amorphous organic photorefractive materials in holographic two-beam coupling experiments in the typical tilted geometry was found to be asymmetric with respect to the applied electric field direction. For one field direction, light is coupled into the polymer layer and can be detected on the side of the devices. For the other, the originally Gaussian-shaped writing beams show a shoulder or even split into two. The strength of the asymmetry depends on the diameter of the beams writing the hologram. We demonstrate that this effect is due to beam fanning. As a result of the fanning, the apparent photorefractive gain coefficients take on unphysical values.     

Effect of charge mobility on dielectric liquid flow driven by EHD conduction phenomenon

Electrohydrodynamic (EHD) conduction phenomenon takes advantage of the electrical Coulomb force exerted on a dielectric liquid generated by externally applied electric field and dissociated charges from electrolytes. EHD conduction generated flow relies primarily upon the asymmetry of the electrodes where the flow is always directed toward the broken symmetry regardless of the electrodes polarity. This paper studies the effects of unequal positive and negative charge mobilities on the heterocharge layer structure and generated flow with symmetric and asymmetric electrode designs. The numerical simulations are conducted for a 2-D rectangular channel with the electrodes embedded against the channel wall.