@article{10902/33788,
year = {2024},
month = {8},
url = {https://hdl.handle.net/10902/33788},
abstract = {Nanostructured ferroelectrics display exotic multidomain configurations resulting from the electrostatic and elastic boundary conditions they are subject to. While the ferroelectric domains appear frozen in experimental images, atomistic second-principles studies suggest that they may become spontaneously mobile upon heating, with the polar order melting in a liquidlike fashion. Here, we run molecular dynamics simulations of model systems (PbTiO3/SrTiO3 superlattices) to study the unique features of this transformation. Most notably, we find that the multidomain state loses its translational and orientational orders at different temperatures, resembling the behavior of liquid crystals and yielding an intermediate hexaticlike phase. Our simulations reveal the mechanism responsible for the melting and allow us to characterize the stochastic dynamics in the hexaticlike phase: we find evidence that it is thermally activated, with domain reorientation rates that grow from tens of gigahertzs to terahertzs in a narrow temperature window.},
organization = {This work was carried out during F. G.-O.’s visit to the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST). F. G-O. and J. J. acknowledge financial support from Grant No. PID2022-139776NB-C63 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by ERDF "A way of making Europe" by the European Union. F. G-O.
acknowledges financial support from Grant No. FPU18/04661 funded by MCIN/AEI. H. A. and J. I-G. were funded
by the Luxembourg National Research Fund through Grants C18/MS/12705883 REFOX and C21/MS/15799044/FERRODYNAMICS.},
publisher = {American Physical Society},
publisher = {Physical Review Letters, 2024, 133(6), 066801},
title = {Liquid-crystal-like dynamic transition in ferroelectric-dielectric superlattices},
author = {Gómez Ortiz, Fernando and Graf, Mónica and Junquera Quintana, Francisco Javier and Íñiguez-González, Jorge and Aramberri, Hugo},
}