Rectifiability of entropy defect measures in a micromagnetics model

We study the fine properties of a class of weak solutions u of the eikonal equation arising as asymptotic domain of a family of energy functionals introduced in [T. Rivière and S. Serfaty, Limiting domain wall energy for a problem related to micromagnetics, Comm. Pure Appl. Math. 54 2001, 3, 294–338]. In particular, we prove that the entropy defect measure associated to u is concentrated on a 1-rectifiable set, which detects the jump-type discontinuities of u.

Scale-free ferroelectricity induced by flat phonon bands in HfO2

Discovery of robust yet reversibly switchable electric dipoles at reduced dimensions is critical to the advancement of nanoelectronics devices. Energy bands flat in momentum space generate robust localized states that are activated independently of each other. We determined that flat bands exist and induce robust yet independently switchable dipoles that exhibit a distinct ferroelectricity in hafnium dioxide (HfO2). Flat polar phonon bands in HfO2 cause extreme localization of electric dipoles within its irreducible half-unit cell widths (~3 angstroms). Contrary to conventional ferroelectrics with spread dipoles, those intrinsically localized dipoles are stable against extrinsic effects such as domain walls, surface exposure, and even miniaturization down to the angstrom scale. Moreover, the subnanometer-scale dipoles are individually switchable without creating any domain-wall energy cost. This offers unexpected opportunities for ultimately dense unit cell–by–unit cell ferroelectric switching devices that are directly integrable into silicon technology.

Magnetic Domains Observation from Bitter Patterns of NdFeB Alloy

The Bitter method is an adequate method for domains observation, and depends on careful metallographic preparation and also on a proper magnetic colloid solution. In this study, Bitter patterns were obtained for a Nd-Fe-B as-cast alloy. The Nd2Fe14B grains show strong anisotropy during growing, and are larger for the direction perpendicular to the easy magnetization axis. The equilibrium distance between domain walls allows an estimate of intrinsic parameters of ferromagnetic phases as the domain wall energy and the single domain particle size.

The Critical Conditions of Ferroelectric Domain Switch with Different Porosity and Pressure

This paper carries out the research on the critical conditions of ferroelectric domain switch with different porosity and pressure. A micromechanics model is established with the influence of external electric field, stress load, domain wall energy and depolarization energy, etc. The results show that the domain switch critical dimension and nucleation energy decrease fastly in the initial stage and then decrease slowly as the reversed electric field evenly increases. The critical dimension and nucleation energy with different porosity and pressure are studied, too.

TEM Observation on Ferroelectric Domain Structures of PbTiO3 Epitaxial Films

The ferroelectric domain structure of PbTiO3(PTO) films was investigated by using transmission electron microscopy (TEM). In the film with PTO/SrTiO3(STO) structure, 180º domains are formed near the SrTiO3(STO) substrate and the domain length of 180º domains is 100 nm. However, 180º domains are not formed in the film with Pt/PTO/SrRuO3(SRO)/STO structure. These results show that 180º domains are formed in order to minimize depolarizing field energy, and that the domain length of 180º domains is determined by the competition among the depolarizing field energy, domain wall energy, Coulomb interaction and elastic interaction.