Flexoelectric rotation of polarization in ferroelectric thin films

Strain engineering enables modification of the properties of thin films using the stress from the substrates on which they are grown. Strain may be relaxed, however, and this can also modify the properties thanks to the coupling between strain gradient and polarization known as flexoelectricity. Here we have studied the strain distribution inside epitaxial films of the archetypal ferroelectric PbTiO(3), where the mismatch with the substrate is relaxed through the formation of domains (twins). Synchrotron X-ray diffraction and high-resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy reveal an intricate strain distribution, with gradients in both the vertical and, unexpectedly, the horizontal direction. These gradients generate a horizontal flexoelectricity that forces the spontaneous polarization to rotate away from the normal. Polar rotations are a characteristic of compositionally engineered morphotropic phase boundary ferroelectrics with high piezoelectricity; flexoelectricity provides an alternative route for generating such rotations in standard ferroelectrics using purely physical means.     

The stability chart of parallel shear flows with double-diffusive processes — general properties

Summary The stability of an infinite fluid layer is considered, subject to horizontal flow and arbitrary initial vertical temperature and salinity distributions. Linear stability analysis is applied, using three-dimensional perturbations. A method is outlined for the construction of a general stability chart; parts of the chart are marginal-stability lines obtained by using the Squire theorem, where disturbances in the flow direction are the most unstable; necessary conditions for the theorem to be valid are developed. These conditions are shown to be sufficient in certain cases. A technique is presented to obtain the stability boundary even when these conditions are not satisfied. The results show that an increase in the Reynolds number cannot increase the stability domain.