Origin Of Spontaneous Polarization Research Articles

A comparative study on magnetism in Zn-doped AlN and GaN from first-principles

First-principles calculations have been used to comparatively investigate electronic and magnetic properties of Zn-doped AlN and GaN. A total magnetic moment of 1.0 μB induced by Zn is found in AlN, but not in GaN. Analyses show that the origin of spontaneous polarization not only depend on the localized atomic orbitals of N and sufficient hole concentration, but also the relative intensity of the covalency of matrix. The relatively stronger covalent character of GaN with respect to AlN impedes forming local magnetic moment in GaN matrix. Our study offers a fresh sight of spontaneous spin polarization in d0 magnetism. The much stronger ferromagnetic coupling in c-plane of AlN means that it is feasible to realize long-range ferromagnetic order via monolayer delta-doping. This can apply to other wide band-gap semiconductors in wurtzite structure.

Origin of spontaneous polarization, tilt, and chiral structure of smectic liquid-crystal phases composed of bent-core molecules: a molecular model.

A simple molecular model is proposed for novel bent-core smectic phases that enables one to explain the origin of the experimentally observed chiral structure of the B2 phase composed of nonchiral banana-shaped molecules. It is shown that in the perfectly ordered smectic phase the distributed dispersion interaction between banana-shaped molecules stabilizes the spontaneous polarization and may be responsible for the tilt of the director. The orientation of the spontaneous polarization with respect to the tilt plane is determined by the balance between the dispersion and electrostatic dipole-dipole intermolecular interactions. In particular, sufficiently strong dipole-dipole interaction promotes the B2 phase where the polarization is normal to the tilt plane. The actual chiral structure of each smectic layer in the B2 phase appears as a result of the symmetry breaking. In the case of small molecular dipoles the nonchiral polar smectic phase is formed where the spontaneous polarization is parallel to the tilt plane. The role of the opening angle and of the axial ratio of banana-shaped molecules is also considered and a phase diagram is presented.

Microscopic origin of spontaneous polarization in ferroelectric SC∗ liquid crystals

Abstract The origin of spontaneous polarization in the ferroelectric smectic C∗ phase is investigated within a mean-field microscopic model which describes the coupling between the tilt of molecules from the normal to the smectic layers and the rotation of a molecule around its long axis. The mean-field potential is studied which takes into account a chiral polar and a non-chiral quadrupolar biasing of the rotation of molecules around the molecular long axes. Each molecule is characterized by three transverse molecular axes: the chiral axis which turns parallel to the macroscopic C2 axis at small tilts, the polar axis in the direction of the transverse dipole moment and the quadrupolar axis which tends to be parallel to the C2 axis at very large tilts. A numerical analysis of the model shows that there are four different types of spontaneous polarization dependent on the temperature, including the sign-reversal type. The influence of three microscopic parameters, i.e. two angles between the three characte...