Domains and domain walls in ferroic materials

摘要

Ferroic materials exhibit long-range order with respect to their elastic, electric, or magnetic properties, giving rise to fascinating physics and functional properties that are used in, e.g., state-of-the-art sensor technology, energy harvesting, and medical diagnosis. Despite more than 100 years of research on ferroics, this class of materials remains an exciting playground for both fundamental and applied research studies, and it is safe to predict that this trend will continue. Recent examples for the special behaviors of ferroic materials that have inspired the community are the discovery of topologically protected electric and magnetic skyr-mions, negative capacitance, and resistive switching.Progress in the field of ferroics is propelled by the remarkable evolution that has taken place in both experimental investigations and theory, making it possible to explore the physical properties of ferroic materials with unprecedented completeness down to the length scale of individual atoms. In addition, improved synthesis methods and in situ characterization tools applied during growth allow for stabilizing novel exotic phases and artificial heterostructures to engineer ferroic properties. These capabilities have opened the door for new science and conceptually different technologies, promoting innovative fields such as low-energy spintronics and multi-level data storage for neuromorphic computing and next-generation nanotechnology.