Investigating the fabrication and dipole characteristics of complex ferroelectric nanoshapes
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Cambridge
Department Name: Earth Sciences
Abstract
The traditional view of the ordering of polarisation or magnetisation in both ferroelectrics and ferromagnets is that local dipoles or magnetic moments are arranged into neat rows and columns, and that boundaries between neatly arranged groups must strictly conform to the crystallography of the host material (conventional stripe domains). However, recent experimental research in three-dimensionally size-constrained soft ferromagnets has revealed the existence of completely different domain states which form into vortices. As with many aspects of behaviour in ferromagnetism, analogous properties in the behaviour of the electrical polarisation in ferroelectrics is often seen, and recent modelling strongly suggests that such vortex domain states should also exist in ferroelectrics. Differences in the energetics between ferromagnets and ferroelectrics means that such unusual behaviour is only expected to dominate whenever ferroelectric dimensions are reduced to the order of ~10 nm. The creation of such small structures and the characterisation of their domain states represents a serious challenge to experimentalists involved in ferroelectric research and yet the potential for new discovery is immense. Further, simple vortex structures may only be the tip of the ice-berg, as much more exotic domain patterns have been postulated: for example some theorists have suggested the possibility of an electrostatic solenoid-analogue. Given the research performed to date, and the postulations made by theorists, the creation of three-dimensionally constrained nanostructures in ferroelectrics, and the subsequent analysis of their domain characteristics, clearly represents an exciting and challenging problem. This project will address this area of research by combining expertise in nanoscale ferroelectric fabrication with specialist characterisation techniques such as electron holography, second-harmonic near field optics, nano-Raman spectroscopy and scanning probe microscopy. The programme builds on an already established successful collaboration between ferroelectric activities in Queen's University Belfast and Cambridge, and this is augmented by international experts in specifically chosen characterisation techniques.
People |
ORCID iD |
James Floyd Scott (Principal Investigator) |
Publications
Kawasaki S
(2008)
Conformal oxide coating of carbon nanotubes
in Applied Physics Letters
Scott J
(2008)
Critical slowing down of spin fluctuations in BiFeO 3
in Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter
Burns S
(2016)
Nanostructuring Ferroelectrics via Focused Ion Beam Methodologies
in Advanced Functional Materials
Sanchez D
(2010)
Near-room temperature relaxor multiferroic
in Applied Physics Letters
Chang LW
(2013)
Self-similar nested flux closure structures in a tetragonal ferroelectric.
in Nano letters
Schilling A
(2011)
Shape-induced phase transition of domain patterns in ferroelectric platelets
in Physical Review B
McQuaid RG
(2010)
The effect of antinotches on domain wall mobility in single crystal ferroelectric nanowires.
in Nano letters
Description | Our study of unusual domains in ferroelectrics has led us in the last month to discover a room-temperature multiferroic material with magnetic switching at room temperature. This material (lead-iron-tantalate-zirconate-titanate) is only the second material known that can have its electric polarization switched by a magnetic field at room temperature. This is important for a new class of computer memory in which WRITE operations are by applied voltage but READ operations are via magnetic fields, thus combining the best qualities of magnetic memories (MRAMs) and ferroelectric memories (FRAMs). The new material is 100x better with regard to leakahge current than the only other known material (BiFeO3). |
Exploitation Route | New computer memories. Our newest report in Nature Communications was downloaded 3300 times in the first four weeks and put into the Nature India edition (one author is from Delhi). Plenary keynote invited talks are scheduled on this work at international meetings in Krakow, Kyoto, and Corsica this summer. |
Sectors | Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software) |
URL | http://nature.org |