Magnetically driven ferroelectric order in Ni3V2O8

We show that long-range ferroelectric and incommensurate magnetic order appear simultaneously in a single phase transition in Ni3V2O8. The temperature and magnetic-field dependence of the spontaneous polarization show a strong coupling between magnetic and ferroelectric orders. We determine the magnetic symmetry using Landau theory for continuous phase transitions, which shows that the spin structure alone can break spatial inversion symmetry leading to ferroelectric order. This phenomenological theory explains our experimental observation that the spontaneous polarization is restricted to lie along the crystal b axis and predicts that the magnitude should be proportional to a magnetic order parameter.     

有电畴的铁电薄膜中的相变

本文用朗道自由能展开研究了有电畴的铁电薄膜的相变特性。畴壁的存在使自发极化和居里温度降低,使临界尺寸增大。随着温度升高,反转长度离开表面。随着厚度减小,膜将成为单畴。 关键词：     

Manifestation of a ferroelectric phase transition in ultrathin films of polyvinylidene fluoride

Temperature dependences of the dielectric properties of ultrathin polyvinylidene fluoride films prepared using the Langmuir-Blodgett method were studied by linear and nonlinear dielectric spectroscopy. It is shown that ultrathin Langmuir films of polyvinylidene fluoride exhibit a manifestation of a first-order ferroelectric phase transition, which can be assigned to the interaction between the spontaneous polarization and the surfaces bounding the film. As the film thickness increases, the effect of the surfaces decreases and the ferroelectric phase transition shifts to high temperatures to vanish altogether when the temperature region of the transition rises above the melting point.     

Properties of ferroelectric thin films with a first-order phase transitions

A Green's function technique is used to investigate the properties of ferroelectric thin films with a first-order phase transitions on the basis of the transverse Ising model. Taking into account the four-spin interactions beside the two-spin interactions the dependence of the polarization on film thickness and temperature and the thickness dependence of the Curie temperature become more complicated.     

Electro-optic and dielectric studies of silica nanoparticle doped ferroelectric liquid crystal in SmC* phase

We present the results based on the electro-optic and dielectric properties of silica nanoparticle (SNP) doped ferroelectric liquid crystal (FLC) in SmC* phase. Switching time, spontaneous polarization and rotational viscosity decreases with increase in the silica concentration. An improvement in switching time after doping the silica nanoparticle is due to enhancement in anchoring energy exist between silica nanoparticle and ferroelectric liquid crystal. We noticed that the dielectric permittivity and dielectric strength decreases with increasing the concentration of silica nanoparticle in SmC* phase. Relaxation frequency increases with increasing the silica concentration and temperature in SmC* and decreases as we approaches towards transition temperature.     

Acoustic and dielectric anomalies in the temperature range of a ferroelectric phase transition in glycine phosphite crystals

The acoustical and dielectric properties of glycine phosphite crystals are investigated in the temperature range of a ferroelectric phase transition. The acoustic anomalies for longitudinal waves along the X, Y, and Z crystallographic axes (where Y is the spontaneous polarization axis) are analyzed in the framework of the Landau theory. It is shown that pronounced acoustic anomalies of the velocity can be quantitatively described within the pseudoproper ferroelectric phase transition model with due regard for the long-range dipole-dipole interaction. For longitudinal acoustic waves propagating along the polar crystal axis, the striction anomaly of the velocity is only partly suppressed by the long-range dipole-dipole forces and an abrupt jump in the velocity is observed in the vicinity of the phase transition. The temperature coefficients of the velocity in the paraphase are determined. The striction contribution and the contributions biquadratic in the order parameter and in the strain to the velocity anomaly are separated.     

Phase transition behaviors of a ferroelectric thin film with long-range interactions

Within the framework of the mean-field approximation, the transverse-field Ising model is used to investigate the surface parameter modification of interaction constants and transverse fields on phase transition behaviors of a ferroelectric thin film with long-range interactions. The variation of Curie temperature as a function of the surface transverse field for different surface interaction constants or thickness is discussed. Meanwhile, the variation of Curie temperature as a function of the surface exchange interaction for different surface transverse fields is examined. In addition, the dependence of Curie temperature on the film thickness for different surface exchange interactions and surface transverse fields is obtained.     

Combined effect of the transition layer and interfacial coupling on the properties of ferroelectric bilayer film

Within the framework of modified Ginzburg--Landau--Devonshire phenomenological theory, a ferroelectric bilayer film with a transition layer within each constituent film and an interfacial coupling between two materials has been studied. Properties including the Curie temperature and the spontaneous polarization of a bilayer film composed of two equally thick ferroelectric constituent films are discussed. The results show that the combined effect of the transition layer and the interfacial coupling plays an important role in explaining the interesting behaviour of ferroelectric multilayer structures consisting of two ferroelectric materials.     

Ferroelectric phase transitions in ultrathin films of BaTiO3

We present molecular dynamics simulations of a realistic model of an ultrathin film of BaTiO3 sandwiched between short-circuited electrodes to determine and understand effects of film thickness, epitaxial strain, and the nature of electrodes on its ferroelectric phase transitions as a function of temperature. We determine a full epitaxial strain-temperature phase diagram in the presence of perfect electrodes. Even with the vanishing depolarization field, we find that ferroelectric phase transitions to states with in-plane and out-of-plane components of polarization exhibit dependence on thickness; it arises from the interactions of local dipoles with their electrostatic images in the presence of electrodes. Secondly, in the presence of relatively bad metal electrodes which only partly compensate the surface charges and depolarization field, a qualitatively different phase with stripelike domains is stabilized at low temperature.     

Phase diagram of ferroelectric thin film with diluted surface

We study the influence of the surface of the ferroelectric films on the properties of the intrinsic ferroelectric polarization state in frame of statistical Transverse Ising Model (TIM). The quality of the surface is modelled by the dilution parameter q$q$ that reflects the relative weight of the paraelectric impurities vs. ferroelectric ions. Using the effective field approach the variation of the average value of spontaneous polarization as function of temperature for different film thicknesses has been investigated as function of dilution parameter q$q$. The phase diagram of the system and crossover from the ferroelectric to the paraelectric phase is discussed.     

Ferroelectric square lattice described by the transverse Ising model with long-range interactions

A ferroelectric square lattice described by the transverse Ising model is studied by taking into account the long-range interactions. The size dependence of the Curie temperature as well as the polarization of the lattice is studied. Dielectric peaks and pyroelectric peaks are found in the edge area of the lattice which vary in position with the interaction range. It is found that the interaction range has a strong influence on the ferroelectric properties of the lattice.     

Order-parameter coupling in the improper ferroelectric lawsonite

Low-temperature specific heat and thermal expansion measurements are used to study the hydrogen-based ferroelectric lawsonite over the temperature range 1.8 K ≤ T ≤ 300 K. The second-order phase transition near 125 K is detected in the experiments, and the low-temperature phase is determined to be improper ferroelectric and co-elastic. In the ferroelectric phase T ≤ 125 K, the spontaneous polarization P(s) is proportional to (1) the volume strain e(s), and (2) the excess entropy ΔS(e). These proportionalities confirm the improper character of the ferroelectric phase transition. We develop a structural model that allows the off-centering of hydrogen positions to generate the spontaneous polarization. In the low-temperature limit we detect a Schottky anomaly (two-level system) with an energy gap of Δ ～ 0.5 meV.     

Polarization reversal behavior of an asymmetric ferroelectric thin film

Using the Landau–Khalatnikov equation of motion, the polarization reversal behavior in an asymmetric ferroelectric thin film has been studied. Our model first introduces a third power of polarization to describe the asymmetry of a ferroelectric thin film with surface transition layer, which originates from the difference between the surfaces. Interestingly, vertical drift of polarization switching behaviors was found in this system. The properties consisting of hysteresis loop, spontaneous polarization, switching current of an asymmetric ferroelectric thin film with surface transition layer are discussed.     

Investigation of the seeding-layer effect for a ferroelectric thin film with the transverse Ising model

The transition feature of a ferroelectric thin film with a seeding layer is studied based on the transverse Ising model. The influence of the seeding layer on the transition behavior of a ferroelectric thin film is investigated systemically, and the effect of the interaction parameters for the seeding layer on the phase diagram is also obtained. Meanwhile, the polarization and Curie temperature of the ferroelectric thin film are calculated for different seeding-layer structures. The results show that the polarization and Curie temperature of the film will be obviously modified on adding a seeding layer.     

聚(偏氟乙烯-三氟乙烯)纳米薄膜极化反转与疲劳特性

采用旋涂法制备了厚度为140 nm的聚(偏氟乙烯-三氟乙烯)[P(VDF-TrFE)]纳米薄膜, 研究了不同退火温度以及环境相对湿度对薄膜的极化反转和疲劳性能的影响. 运用X射线衍射仪、扫描电子显微镜和傅里叶变换红外光谱仪等测试技术对薄膜的微结构进行了表征. 实验结果表明, 通过不同温度的退火处理, P(VDF-TrFE)铁电薄膜的结晶度随着退火温度的升高而不断提高, 并且一定的温度范围内的退火处理可以提高薄膜的极化性能; 此外, P(VDF-TrFE) 铁电薄膜性能还表现出一定的环境湿度的敏感特性, 这与薄膜的物理性能和结构特点密切相关; P(VDF-TrFE)铁电薄膜在不同的环境湿度条件下 表现出较好的电学特性, 其漏电流均保持在10 ^-7A/cm² 的较低水平. 本工作揭示了再退火过程对薄膜的极化反转速度和疲劳恢复特性的影响, 并结合薄膜二次疲劳结果, 探讨了薄膜可逆的内部疲劳恢复特性机理.     

Study of Phase Transition Properties in Epitaxial Ferroelectric Film

Based on the transverse Ising model and using decoupling approximation to the Fermi-type Green's function, we study the phase transition properties of the epitaxial ferroelectric film with one substrate. A general recursive equation of the ferroelectric thin film with two n-layer materials is obtained, which enables us to study the phase transition properties for any number layers forepitaxial ferroelectric thin film. With the help of this equation, we analyze the effect of the exchange interaction and the transverse field in the phase diagram, the influence to the polarizations and Curie temperature numerically. The results show that epitaxial ferroelectric film are able to induce a strong increase or decrease of Curie temperature to different exchange interactions and transverse fields within the epitaxial film layers. The theoreticalresults are in reasonable accordance with experimental data of different ferroelectric thin film.     

A New Model of Ferroelectric Phase Transition with Neglectable Tunneling Effect

Due to the obvious deviations of the existing theoretical models from the experimental results of ferroelectric phase transition, a new model is proposed on the basis of the coupling between spontaneous polarization and spontaneous strain in ferroelectrics. The spontaneous polarization and specific heat of ferroelectric phase transition predicted by the model are in better agreement with the corresponding data of triglyceride sulfate, a typical ferroelectric.In addition, the model predicts a new type of ferroelectric in which a phase transition and a phase-like transition coexist.     

Measurement of electro-optical parameters of a high contrast FLC film

We have fabricated a ferroelectric liquid crystal (FLC) film by using a novel ferroelectric mixture. The various ferroelectric parameters such as response time, spontaneous polarization and contrast ratio of the FLC film have been measured. Experimental results show that the FLC film exhibits high contrast ratios and fast optical response. The FLC film has a possibility of the use in display applications because of the performance characteristics.     

Ultracold heteronuclear molecules and ferroelectric superfluids

We analyze the possibility of a ferroelectric transition in heteronuclear molecules consisting of Bose-Bose, Bose-Fermi, or Fermi-Fermi atom pairs. This transition is characterized by the appearance of a spontaneous electric polarization below a critical temperature. We discuss the existence of a ferroelectric Fermi liquid phase for Fermi molecules and the existence of a ferroelectric superfluid phase for Bose molecules characterized by the coexistence of ferroelectric and superfluid orders. Lastly, we propose an experiment to detect ferroelectric correlations through the observation of coherent dipole radiation pulses.     

Thermodynamic,optical and switching parameters of a ferroelectric liquid crystalline material having SmA*-SmC*-SmBh* phase sequence

Thermodynamic and electro-optical characterization of a ferroelectric liquid crystalline material, namely ((S) (+) 4-(1-methylheptyloxy) phenyl 4′-octyloxybiphenyl-4-carboxylate) possessing paraelectric SmA*, ferroelectric SmC*, hexatic SmB_h* and SmI* phases has been carried out. Phase identification has been done by optical and thermodynamic studies. Switching parameters viz. spontaneous polarization, switching time and rotational viscosity have been determined. The spontaneous polarization has been found to increase with decreasing temperature in SmC* phase. The switching time is found of the order of few milliseconds.