Ferroelectric order in individual nanometre-scale crystals
Source abstract
Abstract
Ferroelectricity in finite-dimensional systems continues to arouse interest, motivated by predictions of vortex polarization states and the utility of ferroelectric nanomaterials in memory devices, actuators and other applications. Critical to these areas of research are the nanoscale polarization structure and scaling limit of ferroelectric order, which are determined here in individual nanocrystals comprising a single ferroelectric domain. Maps of ferroelectric structural distortions obtained from aberration-corrected transmission electron microscopy, combined with holographic polarization imaging, indicate the persistence of a linearly ordered and monodomain polarization state at nanometre dimensions. Room-temperature polarization switching is demonstrated down to ~5 nm dimensions. Ferroelectric coherence is facilitated in part by control of particle morphology, which along with electrostatic boundary conditions is found to determine the spatial extent of cooperative ferroelectric distortions. This work points the way to multi-Tbit/in(2) memories and provides a glimpse of the structural and electrical manifestations of ferroelectricity down to its ultimate limits.
Source: europepmc · Quality: candidate unverified · Source record ↗
Research context
OpenAlex topics: Ferroelectric and Piezoelectric Materials · Acoustic Wave Resonator Technologies · Photorefractive and Nonlinear Optics
SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.
References (50)
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