The Division of Materials Research and the Office for International Science and Engineering contribute funds to this award. Funding supports theoretical and computational research and education involving ferroelectric and multiferroic materials with collaborators in France. It also contributes to the creation of a joint Ph.D. program between the University of Arkansas and Ecole Centrale de Paris in France.
The research program aims to investigate phenomena in ferroelectric nanostructures, to model and understand the properties of multiferroics, and to simulate dielectric loss in ferroelectrics. The PI will use first-principles techniques, effective Hamiltonian approaches, and the inverse method to do the research. Collaborators from European research groups will bring an experimental and additional theoretical perspective to the work.
A side-by-side comparison between theoretical prediction and data from experiments will be performed to fully understand the systems to be investigated and to refine and inspire further development of numerical tools. The PI plans to investigate materials such as barium titanate and potassium tantanate with an aim to investigate the effect of the coupling between rotations of oxygen octahedra and electrical dipoles on their properties and to discover new phenomena. The PI will also investigate various multiferroic nanostructures and bulk materials as well as the effect of pressure on the ferroelectric properties of nominally magnetic materials. Dielectric loss and tunability will be studied and optimized in in barium-strontium titanate nanostructures and bulk materials.
The research program will be integrated with local and international educational activities, including the creation of a joint Ph.D. program between the University of Arkansas and Ecole Centrale de Paris in France, organizing a weekly video conference between the European collaborators and Arkansas, and integrating members of underrepresented groups into the projects. The PI is also planning a summer camp outreach activity for elementary and middle school children that combines science and soccer.
NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY: The Division of Materials Research and the Office for International Science and Engineering contribute funds to this award. Funding supports theoretical and computational research and education involving ferroelectric and multiferroic materials with collaborators in France. It also contributes to the creation of a joint Ph.D. program between the University of Arkansas and Ecole Centrale de Paris in France.
The research program aims to investigate phenomena in ferroelectric materials in which are centers of positive and negative charge can spontaneously separate. The resulting electric field around a ferroelectic is analogous to the magnetic field around a magnet. The PI aims to use computational methods to investigate the properties of these interesting materials and an exciting class of materials that can exhibit combined magnetism and ferroelectricity. A better understanding of these materials contributes to the intellectual foundations of future technologies, particularly in the area of data storage and other aspects of information technology.
The research program will be integrated with local and international educational activities, including the creation of a joint Ph.D. program between the University of Arkansas and Ecole Centrale de Paris in France, organizing a weekly video conference between the European collaborators and Arkansas, and integrating members of underrepresented groups into the projects. The PI is also planning a summer camp outreach activity for elementary and middle school children that combines science and soccer.
