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.     

Dual nature of improper ferroelectricity in a magnetoelectric multiferroic

Using first-principles calculations, we study the microscopic origin of ferroelectricity (FE) induced by magnetic order in the orthorhombic HoMnO3. We obtain the largest ferroelectric polarization observed in the whole class of improper magnetic ferroelectrics to date. We find that the two proposed mechanisms for FE in multiferroics, lattice and electronic based, are simultaneously active in this compound: a large portion of the ferroelectric polarization arises due to quantum-mechanical effects of electron orbital polarization, in addition to the conventional polar atomic displacements. An interesting mechanism for switching the magnetoelectric domains by an electric field via a 180 degrees coherent rotation of Mn spins is also proposed.     

PZT铁电材料的总剂量辐照效应实验研究

 采用传统固相反应法制备PZT铁电材料,并制作成平行平板无源电容器结构,在ELV-8电子直线加速器上进行了总剂量效应辐照实验。结果表明：样片经过不同强度高能高速直流电子束辐照后的电滞回线随着辐照强度的增加,电滞回线所包围的面积逐渐减小,饱和极化强度、剩余极化强度和矫顽场呈线性减小。其中当辐照剂量为1×10⁸rad（Si）时,饱和极化强度、剩余极化强度和矫顽场的衰减幅度分别为14.1%,15.0%和2.7%,样片抗总剂量辐照能力可达1×10⁸rad（Si）。     

铌镁酸铅-钛酸铅铁电阴极电子发射特性

研究了铌镁酸铅-钛酸铅铁电材料的铁电、介电性能对阴极发射阈值电压的影响, 以及铁电阴极发射电流与激励脉冲电压和抽取电压之间的关系, 并分析了其发射机理. 结果表明, 室温介电常数高、极化强度变化量大的弛豫铁电体0.9Pb(Mg_1/3Nb_2/3)O₃-0.1PbTiO₃具有较小的发射阈值电压; 铁电阴极电子发射与快极化反转和等离子体的形成有关; 由极化反转所致电子发射的自发射电流随激励脉冲电压的增大呈幂律增长关系, 其发射电流开始于激励脉冲电压的下降沿; 在抽取电压较大时, 发射电流随抽取电压的增大呈线性增长关系, 说明大电流主要取决于抽取电压; 其发射电流开始于激励脉冲电压的上升沿, 与“三介点”处的场增强效应和等离子体的形成有关; 当抽取电压为2500 V 时, 得到的发射电流幅值为210 A, 相应的电流密度为447 A/cm².     

MoTe2 on ferroelectric single-crystal substrate in the dual-gate field-effect transistor operation

An exfoliated MoTe₂ flake in contact with a ferroelectric single-crystal substrate was studied to examine its charge carrier modulation by neighboring ferroelectric polarization. A MoTe₂ field-effect transistor was fabricated, having a hexagonal-BN (hBN) flake and a ferroelectric substrate employed as top and bottom gate dielectrics. In the dual-gate operation, the charge conduction exhibited an ambipolar behavior with large hysteresis during the gate voltage sweep. It mainly originates from the ferroelectric nature in combination with the charge trap phenomena at the interfaces. Interestingly, we found out that holes are more easily trapped than electrons, and charge carriers in MoTe₂ are easily modulated through the top hBN gate when the electron conduction is predominantly set by the bottom ferroelectric field. However, the controllability becomes much weaker under opposing ferroelectric polarizations. This unbalanced controllability reveals the interfacial hole-trap effect resulting from ferroelectric polarization.     

BiFeO3中各离子在铁电相变中作用本质的第一性原理研究

采用基于密度泛函理论的广义梯度近似方法和赝势平面波法,对多铁材料BiFeO₃的铁电反铁磁相和可能的高温顺电相的电子结构进行了第一性原理研究.计算验证了BiFeO₃基态为G型反铁磁有序,Fe离子的理论磁矩与实验值相符.铁电相变发生后,Bi-6s态和6p态发生了电荷转移,Bi-6s电子的作用更加明显.Born有效电荷的研究表明铁电畸变主要表现为Bi原子的位移,并且电极化强度计算值很好地符合薄膜实验结果.部分态密度的计算表明Bi-6p态的成键轨道与反键轨道间的能量劈裂 关键词： 第一性原理 铁电性 铁电畸变 反铁磁性     

Magnetic-field-induced ferroelectric state in DyFeO3

Versatile and gigantic magnetoelectric (ME) phenomena have been found for a single crystal of DyFeO3. Below the antiferromagnetic ordering temperature of Dy moments, a linear-ME tensor component as large as alphazz approximately 2.4 x 10(-2) esu is observed. It is also revealed that application of magnetic field along the c axis induces a multiferroic (weakly ferromagnetic and ferroelectric) phase with magnetization [> or =0.5 microB/formula unit (f.u.)] and electric polarization (> or =0.2 microC/cm2) both along the c axis. Exchange striction working between adjacent Fe3+ and Dy3+ layers with the respective layered antiferromagnetic components is proposed as the origin of the ferroelectric polarization in the multiferroic phase.     

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.     

X-ray linear dichroism dependence on ferroelectric polarization

X-ray absorption spectroscopy and photoemission electron microscopy are techniques commonly used to determine the magnetic properties of thin films, crystals, and heterostructures. Recently, these methods have been used in the study of magnetoelectrics and multiferroics. The analysis of such materials has been compromised by the presence of multiple order parameters and the lack of information on how to separate these coupled properties. In this work, we shed light on the manifestation of dichroism from ferroelectric polarization and atomic structure using photoemission electron microscopy and x-ray absorption spectroscopy. Linear dichroism arising from the ferroelectric order in the PbZr0:2Ti0:8O3 thin films was studied as a function of incident x-ray polarization and geometry to unambiguously determine the angular dependence of the ferroelectric contribution to the dichroism. These measurements allow us to examine the contribution of surface charges and ferroelectric polarization as potential mechanisms for linear dichroism. The x-ray linear dichroism from ferroelectric order revealed an angular dependence based on the angle between the ferroelectric polarization direction and the x-ray polarization axis, allowing a formula for linear dichroism in ferroelectric samples to be defined.     

Ferroelectric properties of vinylidene fluoride copolymers

Ferroelectric properties of copolymers of vinylidene fluoride with trifluoroethylene and tetrafluoroethylene are described with special interest in their polarization reversal and phase transition behavior. The ferroelectric phase consists of all-trans molecules packed in a parallel fashion while molecules adopt irregular TT, TG, T[Gbar] conformations in the paraelectric phase. In the ferroelectric phase, polarization reversal occurs at very high fields (> 100 MV/m) as a result of eventual 180° rotations of individual chain molecules around their axes. The switching time ranges from sec to nsec depending upon the strength of the applied field according to an exponential law with a particularly large activation field (～ 1 GV/m). The value of the observed remnant polarization is consistent with prediction from a simple dipole sum implying a minor contribution from the Coulomb interaction. The ferroelectric-to-paraelectric transition appears most clearly for copolymers containing 50-80 mol% vinylidene fluoride at temperatures from 70 to 140°C. The transition accompanies cooperative dipole motions associated with elementary trans-gauche transformations. Changes in various properties as well as in structures in the vicinity of the Curie point are consistent with an order-disorder transition of first order. Detailed characteristics specifying their ferroelectricity are summarized and discussed in relation to the molecular, crystalline, and higher-order structures inherent to ferroelectric polymers.     

Polarization relaxation induced by a depolarization field in ultrathin ferroelectric capacitors

Time-dependent polarization relaxation behavior induced by a depolarization field E(d) was investigated on high-quality ultrathin SrRuO3/BaTiO3/SrRuO3 capacitors. The E(d) values were determined experimentally from an applied external field to stop the net polarization relaxation. These values agree with those from the electrostatic calculations, demonstrating that a large E(d) inside the ultrathin ferroelectric layer could cause severe polarization relaxation. For numerous ferroelectric devices of capacitor configuration, this effect will set a stricter size limit than the critical thickness issue.     

Layered perovskites with giant spontaneous polarizations for nonvolatile memories

A series of titanate-based layered perovskites having large values of the spontaneous polarization P(s) were developed for their applcations to nonvolatile ferroelectric random access memories. Among these, the Nd-modified bismuth titanate [Bi(4-x)Nd(x)Ti(3)O(12) (BNdT)] system exhibited the most remarkable ferroelectric properties. The c-axis oriented BNdT capacitor was characterized by a switchable remanent polarization 2P(r) of over 100 microC/cm(2) and imprinting and fatigue-free behavior. The active Ti site responsible for the giant P(s) was identified with the help of Rietveld analysis, x-ray absorption near-edge structure study, and ab initio quantum computations.     

Switching of banana liquid crystal mesophases under field

Taking advantage of the great number of bent-core or “banana" compounds synthesized and studied in the laboratory, we describe their behaviour under the application of an external electric field. If the field were a static one, we would work within the frame of an equilibrium phase diagram in a (field E, temperature T) space where some phases would be simple dielectrics and others ferroelectric ones with a macroscopic polarization, either spontaneous or induced by the field. In this paper, we deal with the basic responses of “banana” liquid crystals under the application of a low frequency (1 to 100 Hz) AC field. Firstly square-wave voltages allow us to locate the phase boundary between dielectric (at lower field) and ferroelectric phases (higher field) at a given temperature and field threshold. Then we apply slowly varying AC voltages with shapes like triangle or “triple-plateau” to check out the stability of the induced ferroelectric phase versus field removal. Three behaviours are encountered, the unstable one (short lifetime of the high-field ferroelectric phase) where the macroscopic polarization is destroyed and then rebuilt in the opposite direction during each half period and usually called “antiferroelectric”; the stable one (long lifetime) with a polarization that rotates at constant modulus which is labeled as “ferroelectric” and a new one where the macroscopic polarization is proportional to the applied fied, we named this behaviour as “superparaelectric”. Let us stress that these observations apply to the ferroelectric phases of the (E, T) phase diagram not to the zero field (0,T) phases observed in the usual phase characterization experiments except for an eventual spontaneous ferroelectric phase. Received 18 April 2002 and Received in final form 17 January 2003 Published online: 16 April 2003 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: marcerou@crpp.u-bordeaux.fr RID="b" ID="b"URL: http://www.crpp-bordeaux.cnrs.fr     

Investigation of the fractal features of the polarization reversal processes in ferroelectric crystals under injection conditions

The features of polarization reversal processes of ferroelectric crystals are analyzed under the condition that electron beams of a scanning electron microscope are injected into the subsurface layer of a sample. The proposed mathematical model describes the dynamics of the polarization switching of a ferroelectric crystal using the injection contact technique. The simulation relies on the basic principles of scale invariance in domain structure evolution. The polarization switching current of ferroelectric crystals is investigated as the dynamic characteristic of a finite medium exhibiting fractal behavior. The application of fractal and multifractal analysis of a time series enables us to calculate the fractal dimension of the polarization reversal process under injection conditions.     

Structure and polarization in the high Tc ferroelectric Bi(Zn,Ti)O3-PbTiO3 solid solutions

Theoretical ab initio and experimental methods are used to investigate the [Bi(Zn1/2Ti1/2)O3]x[PbTiO3]1-x solid solution. We find that hybridization between Zn 4s and 4p and O 2p orbitals allows the formation of short, covalent Zn-O bonds, enabling favorable coupling between A-site and B-site displacements. This leads to unusually large polarization, strong tetragonality, and an elevated ferroelectric to paraelectric phase transition temperature.     

Magnetic excitations in the low-temperature ferroelectric phase of multiferroic YMn2O5 using inelastic neutron scattering

We studied magnetic excitations in a low-temperature ferroelectric phase of the multiferroic YMn(2)O(5) using inelastic neutron scattering (INS). We identify low-energy magnon modes and establish a correspondence between the magnon peaks observed by INS and electromagnon peaks observed in optical absorption [A. B. Sushkov et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 027202 (2007).]. Furthermore, we explain the microscopic mechanism, which results in the lowest-energy electromagnon peak, by comparing the inelastic neutron spectral weight with the polarization in the commensurate ferroelectric phase.     

4-(cyanomethyl)anilinium perchlorate: a new displacive-type molecular ferroelectric

A new organic ferroelectric compound, 4-(cyanomethyl)anilinium perchlorate, proceeds a second-order phase transition from a paraelectric phase (P2(1)/m) to a ferroelectric phase (P2(1)) at 184 K. A perfect ferroelectric hysteresis loop was observed even at 10 KHz. It is the first example of a molecule-based organic ferroelectric whose polarization can be switched at such a high frequency. The temperature dependent second harmonic generation effect shows that the second-order nonlinear coefficient is nearly zero above T(c) and proportional to the spontaneous polarization below T(c), suggesting the occurrence of symmetry breaking, in good agreement with crystal structural determination. The origin of ferroelectricity was ascribed to the displacements of -NH(3)(+) cations and ClO(4)(-) anions from the symmetric positions including a small part of the order-disorder behaviors of the ClO(4)(-) anions.     

掺镧锆锡钛酸铅陶瓷极化强度变化量对电子发射电流强度的影响

铁电阴极因其优异的电子发射性能在高功率微波管的电子束源、平板显示技术以及宇航推进器等领域 有着广阔应用前景而日益受到人们的重视.大量研究表明,铁电阴极电子发射性能受阴极材料性能的影响. 在激励电场作用下,铁电阴极材料会产生表面非屏蔽电荷而引起极化强度的变化, 这表明铁电阴极电子发射性能可能与阴极材料的极化强度变化量存在着某种关系. 为研究阴极材料极化强度变化量对铁电阴极电子发射性能的影响,以掺镧锆锡钛酸铅铁电和反铁电陶瓷样品 作为阴极材料,通过正半周电滞回线测试得到阴极材料在不同电场强度下的极化强度变化量, 测量得到电子发射电流强度随激励电场的变化曲线,并分析了电子发射电流强度与极化强度变化量的关系. 结果表明,两种样品电子发射电流强度与极化强度变化量正相关.     

Electron-polarization coupling in superconductor-ferroelectric superlattices

We present a phenomenological model of periodic ferroelectric-superconductor (FE-S) heterostructures containing two alternating ferroelectric and superconducting layers. The interaction at the FE-S contacts is described as a coupling of the local carrier density of the superconductor with the spontaneous ferroelectric polarization near the FE-S interface. We obtain a stable symmetric domain-type phase, exhibiting a contact-induced polarization and a ferroelectric domain structure at temperatures above the bulk ferroelectric transition temperature. With increasing coupling energy, we find the ferroelectric phase coexisting with the suppressed superconductivity in the S-film. The system is analyzed for different thicknesses of the FE- and S-films, demonstrating the dramatic change in the topology of the phase diagrams with a variation of the layers thickness. The results are expected to shed light on processes occurring in high-temperature superconducting films grown on perovskite alloy-substrates exhibiting ferroelectric properties at lower temperatures. PACS 74.81.-g; 74.78.Fk; 77.80.-e     

High-resolution calorimetric study of pb(mg_{1/3}nb_{2/3})o_{3} single crystal

Motivated by the long-standing unresolved enigma of the relaxor ferroelectric ground state, we performed a high-resolution heat capacity and polarization study of the field-induced phase transition in the relaxor ferroelectric single crystal Pb(Mg_{1/3}Nb_{2/3})O_{3} (PMN) oriented along the [110] direction. We show that the discontinuous evolution of polarization as a function of the electric field or temperature is a consequence of a true first order transition from a glassy to ferroelectric state, which is accompanied by an excess heat capacity anomaly and released latent heat. We also find that in a zero field there is no ferroelectric phase transition in bulk PMN at any temperature, indicating that the nonergodic dipolar glass phase persists down to the lowest temperatures.