Avalanche criticality during ferroelectric/ferroelastic switching
10.1038/s41467-020-20477-6
Crossref journal-article
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Nature Communications (297)
Abstract

AbstractField induced domain wall displacements define ferroelectric/ferroelastic hysteresis loops, which are at the core of piezoelectric, magnetoelectric and memristive devices. These collective displacements are scale invariant jumps with avalanche characteristics. Here, we analyse the spatial distribution of avalanches in ferroelectrics with different domain and transformation patterns: Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3–PbTiO3 contains complex domains with needles and junction patterns, while BaTiO3 has parallel straight domains. Nevertheless, their avalanche characteristics are indistinguishable. The energies, areas and perimeters of the switched regions are power law distributed with exponents close to predicted mean field values. At the coercive field, the area exponent decreases, while the fractal dimension increases. This fine structure of the switching process has not been detected before and suggests that switching occurs via criticality at the coercive field with fundamentally different switching geometries at and near this critical point. We conjecture that the domain switching process in ferroelectrics is universal at the coercive field.

Bibliography

Casals, B., Nataf, G. F., & Salje, E. K. H. (2021). Avalanche criticality during ferroelectric/ferroelastic switching. Nature Communications, 12(1).

Authors 3
  1. Blai Casals (first)
  2. Guillaume F. Nataf (additional)
  3. Ekhard K. H. Salje (additional)
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Dates
Type When
Created 4 years, 7 months ago (Jan. 12, 2021, 1:36 p.m.)
Deposited 2 years, 8 months ago (Dec. 2, 2022, 5:08 a.m.)
Indexed 1 month, 1 week ago (July 12, 2025, 6:45 p.m.)
Issued 4 years, 7 months ago (Jan. 12, 2021)
Published 4 years, 7 months ago (Jan. 12, 2021)
Published Online 4 years, 7 months ago (Jan. 12, 2021)
Funders 1
  1. RCUK | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council 10.13039/501100000266 Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council

    Region: Europe

    gov (National government)

    Labels4
    1. UKRI Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
    2. Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council - UKRI
    3. Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council
    4. EPSRC
    Awards1
    1. (No.EP/P024904/1)

@article{Casals_2021, title={Avalanche criticality during ferroelectric/ferroelastic switching}, volume={12}, ISSN={2041-1723}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-20477-6}, DOI={10.1038/s41467-020-20477-6}, number={1}, journal={Nature Communications}, publisher={Springer Science and Business Media LLC}, author={Casals, Blai and Nataf, Guillaume F. and Salje, Ekhard K. H.}, year={2021}, month=jan }