P1258848981PeLBt

1
Nanoscale Ferroelectric and Piezoelectric
Phenomena in Oxide Heterostructures NSF-Europe
Collaborative Program, DMR - 0603204 C.L. Jia1,
V. Nagarajan2, K. Urban1, R. Waser1 and R.
Ramesh3 1IWE Juelich, Germany2UNSW, Australia
and 3University of California, Berkeley
In this international collaboration, we are
exploring approaches to directly measure the
displacements of the cations in the ferroelectric
phase of the PZT system in order to probe the
order parameter directly. In 7nm thick films
which show a strong enhancement of the overall
tetragonality, we observe that the Ti/Zr ion
displacement is actually smaller than that in the
bulk ( by about 50). This suppression is
consistent with macroscopic electrical
measurements which also show 50 suppression in
switched polarization. This work reveals for the
first time, the dramatic differences between the
macroscopic measurements and microscopic
observations.
2
Broader Impact Education, Collaboration, and
Training

• Themes
• Graduate student exchange
• Undergraduate student exchange
• Short term visiting scientists
• Research interactions

Jennifer Asis, a summer REU from UC, San Diego,
carrying out research in collaboration with
graduate student, Padraic Shafer in the Ramesh
lab.

• Philosophy
• Undergraduate research training
• Multicultural experience
• Focus on minorities and women in physical
  sciences
• Building bridges

Florian Straub, an undergraduate visiting scholar
from Germany, grows complex oxide
heterostructures by PLD in Rameshs lab