67 research outputs found
Vortex movement and magnetization of high Tc superconductors
The basic characteristics of the thermoactivated vortex mobility in Y1Ba2Cu3O7 are determined by measurement of the kinetics of magnetization in two time regimes. The analysis of the kinetics of the approach of the equilibrium results in the activation energy, while the measurement of the log-creep rate allows determination of the activated moment. It is shown that the movement of vortices can be regarded as the diffusion process
Easy collective polarization switching in ferroelectrics
The actual mechanism of polarization switching in ferroelectrics remains a
puzzle for many decades, since the usually estimated barrier for nucleation and
growth is insurmountable ("paradox of the coercive field"). To analyze the
mechanisms of the nucleation we consider the exactly solvable case of a
ferroelectric film with a "dead" layer at the interface with electrodes. The
classical nucleation is easier in this case but still impossible, since the
calculated barrier is huge. We have found that the {\em interaction} between
the nuclei is, however, long range, hence one has to study an {\em ensemble} of
the nuclei. We show that there are the ensembles of small (embryonic) nuclei
that grow {\em without the barrier}. We submit that the interaction between
nuclei is the key point for solving the paradox.Comment: 5 pages, REVTeX 3.1 with one eps-figure. Corrected discussion of
single stripe and cylindrical nuclei, and their interaction. The estimate for
equilibrium density of embryonic nuclei is added. To appear in Phys. Rev.
Letter
Thermodynamic theory of epitaxial ferroelectric thin films with dense domain structures
A Landau-Ginsburg-Devonshire-type nonlinear phenomenological theory is
presented, which enables the thermodynamic description of dense laminar
polydomain states in epitaxial ferroelectric thin films. The theory explicitly
takes into account the mechanical substrate effect on the polarizations and
lattice strains in dissimilar elastic domains (twins). Numerical calculations
are performed for PbTiO3 and BaTiO3 films grown on (001)-oriented cubic
substrates. The "misfit strain-temperature" phase diagrams are developed for
these films, showing stability ranges of various possible polydomain and
single-domain states. Three types of polarization instabilities are revealed
for polydomain epitaxial ferroelectric films, which may lead to the formation
of new polydomain states forbidden in bulk crystals. The total dielectric and
piezoelectric small-signal responses of polydomain films are calculated,
resulting from both the volume and domain-wall contributions. For BaTiO3 films,
strong dielectric anomalies are predicted at room temperature near special
values of the misfit strain.Comment: 19 pages, 8 figure
Coexistence of Ferroelectric Triclinic Phases and Origin of Large Piezoelectric Responses in Highly Strained BiFeO3 films
The structural evolution of the strain-driven morphotropic phase boundary
(MPB) in BiFeO3 films has been investigated using synchrotron x-ray
diffractometry in conjunction with scanning probe microscopy. Our results
demonstrate the existence of mixed-phase regions that are mainly made up of two
heavily tilted ferroelectric triclinic phases. Analysis of first-principles
computations suggests that these two triclinic phases originate from a phase
separation of a single monoclinic state accompanied by elastic matching between
the phase-separated states. These first-principle calculations further reveal
that the intrinsic piezoelectric response of these two low-symmetry triclinic
phases is not significantly large, which thus implies that the ease of phase
transition between these two energetically close triclinic phases is likely
responsible for the large piezoelectric response found in the BiFeO3 films near
its MPB. These findings not only enrich the understandings of the lattice and
domain structure of epitaxial BiFeO3 films but may also shed some light on the
origin of enhanced piezoelectric response near MPB.Comment: 19 pages, 3 figures and 1 tabl
Effect of magnetic state on the transition in iron: First-principle calculations of the Bain transformation path
Energetics of the fcc () - bcc () lattice transformation by
the Bain tetragonal deformation is calculated for both magnetically ordered and
paramagnetic (disordered local moment) states of iron. The first-principle
computational results manifest a relevance of the magnetic order in a scenario
of the - transition and reveal a special role of the Curie
temperature of -Fe, , where a character of the transformation is
changed. At a cooling down to the temperatures one can expect that
the transformation is developed as a lattice instability whereas for
it follows a standard mechanism of creation and growth of an embryo of the new
phase. It explains a closeness of to the temperature of start of the
martensitic transformation, .Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, submitted in Phys. Rev. Letter
Strain engineering and one-dimensional organization of metal-insulator domains in single-crystal VO2 beams
Spatial phase inhomogeneity at the nano- to microscale is widely observed in
strongly-correlated electron materials. The underlying mechanism and
possibility of artificially controlling the phase inhomogeneity are still open
questions of critical importance for both the phase transition physics and
device applications. Lattice strain has been shown to cause the coexistence of
metallic and insulating phases in the Mott insulator VO2. By continuously
tuning strain over a wide range in single-crystal VO2 micro- and nanobeams,
here we demonstrate the nucleation and manipulation of one-dimensionally
ordered metal-insulator domain arrays along the beams. Mott transition is
achieved in these beams at room temperature by active control of strain. The
ability to engineer phase inhomogeneity with strain lends insight into
correlated electron materials in general, and opens opportunities for designing
and controlling the phase inhomogeneity of correlated electron materials for
micro- and nanoscale device applications.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures, with supplementary informatio
Structural defects and local chemistry across ferroelectric–electrode interfaces in epitaxial heterostructures
Theory of Multilayer SMA Actuators
Two types of multilayer actuators based on a shape memory alloy (SMA) film as an active component are explored theoretically. One of them uses the bending of an actuator due to the movement of an austenite/martensite interface of a SMA film parallel to a film plane. Another type of actuation uses the combination of passive layers with different coefficients of thermal expansion for engineering curvature. It is shown that in both cases the actuating deformation of the multilayer actuators can be optimized by the combination of the layers with different elastic properties, misfits and thickness
Domain structures and high tunability in compositionally graded ferroelectric films
The domain structure and dielectric properties in multilayered compositionally graded Ba xSr 1-xTiO 3 films on SrTiO 3 substrates are studied using phase field modeling with a uniaxial ferroelectric model of an 180° domain film. The films with a strong composition gradient produce stable polydomain states with labyrinth and columnar morphologies. At zero applied field, the labyrinth structure has zero equilibrium polarization and the columnar domain structure has significant average polarization. Both structures can be obtained in the same film depending on the domain formation history. The simulation results demonstrate that graded films with the stable polydomain state stable produce a very large tunability. Copyrigh
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