Berlin 2015 – scientific programme

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SYDW: Symposium Domain Wall Functionality and Engineering in Complex Oxides

SYDW 1: Symposium on Ferroic Domain Walls

SYDW 1.3: Invited Talk

Monday, March 16, 2015, 10:30–11:00, H 0105

Novel mechanisms of domain-wall formation — •Andres Cano — CNRS, Univ. Bordeaux, ICMCB, F-33600 Pessac, France

Domain walls in ferroic materials are inherent interfaces separating different ordered regions. They can exhibit specific properties radically different from those of the corresponding domains. I will discuss two novel (and, achtung!, unrelated) mechanisms for the formation of domain walls in (multi-)ferroics:

1. In conventional ferroelectrics like BaTiO₃, the desirable enhancement of ferroelectricity at metal-oxide interfaces can in fact promote the appearance of ferroelectric domain walls in nanoscale capacitors. I will discuss the various factors that control the physics behind this surprising phenomenon (e.g. interfacial energy vs. ferroelectric stiffness).
2. In improper ferroelectrics like the hexagonal RMnO₃ manganites, I will show that the emergence of multiferroic domain walls (and more complex topological defects) can be rationalized in terms of different residual-symmetry-breaking mechanisms associated to the primary order parameter.