Domain Structure In Ferroelectrics Related Mater

The book examines domain structuring due to the loss of the initial phase stability in materials of finite size. It also covers aspects such as the behaviour of domain boundaries during their interaction with lattice defects, their structure in real ferroelectrically ordered materials, the effect of the lattice potential relief on their movement, and the flexural and translational components of their dynamics in ferroelectric crystals. The contribution of the domain boundaries to the dielectric properties of ferroelectrics and elastic properties of ferroelectric elastomers is evaluated.

At present, the marketplace for professionals, researchers, and graduate students in solid-state physics and materials science lacks a book that presents a comprehensive discussion of ferroelectrics and related materials in a form that is suitable for experimentalists and engineers. This book proposes to present a wide coverage of domain-related issues concerning these materials. This coverage includes selected theoretical topics (which are covered in the existing literature) in addition to a plethora of experimental data which occupies over half of the book. The book presents experimental findings and theoretical understanding of ferroic (non-magnetic) domains developed during the past 60 years. It addresses the situation by looking specifically at bulk crystals and thin films, with a particular focus on recently-developed microelectronic applications and methods for observations of domains with techniques such as scanning force microscopy, polarized light microscopy, scanning optical microscopy, electron microscopy, and surface decorating techniques. "Domains in Ferroic Crystals and Thin Films" covers a large area of material properties and effects connected with static and dynamic properties of domains, which are extremely relevant to materials referred to as ferroics. In other textbooks on solid state physics, one large group of ferroics is customarily covered: those in which magnetic properties play a dominant role. Numerous books are specifically devoted to magnetic ferroics and cover a wide spectrum of magnetic domain phenomena. In contrast, "Domains in Ferroic Crystals and Thin Films" concentrates on domain-related phenomena in nonmagnetic ferroics. These materials are still inadequately represented in solid state physics textbooks and monographs.

Technological evolution and revolution are both driven by the discovery of new functionalities, new materials and the design of yet smaller, faster, and more energy-efficient components. Progress is being made at a breathtaking pace, stimulated by the rapidly growing demand for more powerful and readily available information technology. High-speed internet and data-streaming, home automation, tablets and smartphones are now "necessities" for our everyday lives. Consumer expectations for progressively more data storage and exchange appear to be insatiable. Oxide electronics is a promising and relatively new field that has the potential to trigger major advances in information technology. Oxide interfaces are particularly intriguing. Here, low local symmetry combined with an increased susceptibility to external fields leads to unusual physical properties distinct from those of the homogeneous bulk. In this context, ferroic domain walls have attracted recent attention as a completely new type of oxide interface. In addition to their functional properties, such walls are spatially mobile and can be created, moved, and erased on demand. This unique degree of flexibility enables domain walls to take an active role in future devices and hold a great potential as multifunctional 2D systems for nanoelectronics. With domain walls as reconfigurable electronic 2D components, a new generation of adaptive nano-technology and flexible circuitry becomes possible, that can be altered and upgraded throughout the lifetime of the device. Thus, what started out as fundamental research, at the limit of accessibility, is finally maturing into a promising concept for next-generation technology.

Using the nano metric resolution of atomic force microscopy techniques, this work explores the rich fundamental physics and novel functionalities of domain walls in ferroelectric materials, the nano scale interfaces separating regions of differently oriented spontaneous polarization. Due to the local symmetry-breaking caused by the change in polarization, domain walls are found to possess an unexpected lateral piezoelectric response, even when this is symmetry-forbidden in the parent material. This has interesting potential applications in electromechanical devices based on ferroelectric domain patterning. Moreover, electrical conduction is shown to arise at domain walls in otherwise insulating lead zirconate titanate, the first such observation outside of multiferroic bismuth ferrite, due to the tendency of the walls to localize defects. The role of defects is then explored in the theoretical framework of disordered elastic interfaces possessing a characteristic roughness scaling and complex dynamic response. It is shown that the heterogeneous disorder landscape in ferroelectric thin films leads to a breakdown of the usual self-affine roughness, possibly related to strong pinning at individual defects. Finally, the roles of varying environmental conditions and defect densities in domain switching are explored and shown to be adequately modelled as a competition between screening effects and pinning.

This is a standard work on ferroelectrics.

This book systematizes data on the heterophase states and their evolution in perovskite-type ferroelectric solid solutions. It also provides a general interpretation of heterophase and domain structures on changing temperature, composition or electric field, as well as the complete analysis of interconnections domain structures, unit-cell parameters changes, heterophase structures and stress relief. The description of numerous examples of heterophase states in lead-free ferroelectric solid solutions is also included. Domain state–interface diagrams contribute to the interpretation of heterophase states in perovskite-type ferroelectric solid solutions and describe the stress relief in the presence of polydomain phases, the behavior of unit-cell parameters of coexisting phases, the effect of external electric field etc. This 2nd edition generalizes the results on the heterophase ferroelectric solid solutions and the stress relief and presents new results on heterophase/domain structures and phase contents in lead-free ferroelectric solid solutions.