Physicists Advance Understanding of Electrical Vortices in Certain Materials
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Computational physicists have developed a novel method that accurately reveals how electrical vortices affect electronic properties of materials that are used in a wide range of applications, including cell phones and military sonar.
Zhigang Gui, a doctoral student in physics at the University of Arkansas, and Laurent Bellaiche, Distinguished Professor of physics at the U of A, along with Lin-Wang Wang at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, published their findings in Nano Letters, a journal of the American Chemical Society.
Gui used supercomputers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory to perform large-scale computations to determine the electrical properties of electrical vortices in ferroelectric materials, which generate an electric field when their shape is changed.
An electrical vortex occurs when the electric dipoles arrange themselves in an unusual swirling movement, Bellaiche said. In this ferroelectric system, electrical vortices are created and determined by the temperature of the material, Bellaiche said.
The simulations also revealed that the existence of an electrical vortex increases the band gap – the major factor determining a material’s conductivity – in this material, which offers insight to the controversial issue about the origin of the conductivity of electrical vortices.
“By changing temperature we are changing the band alignment,” Gui said. “Imagine having the same system having two different band alignments, which can lead to different applications. When decreasing temperature, our systems can transform from a Type-I band alignment, which favors light-emitting devices, to a Type-II band alignment, which favors sensors in semiconductor industries.”
The U.S. Army Research Office and the U.S. Department of Energy funded the research.
Topics
Contacts
Laurent Bellaiche, Distinguished Professor
Physics
479-575-6425,
laurent@uark.edu
Zhigang Gui, doctoral student
Physics
479-575-6937,
zgui@uark.edu
Chris Branam, research communications writer/editor
University Relations
479-575-4737,
cwbranam@uark.edu
Headlines
Distinguished Research Team From Johns Hopkins University Joins U of A, I³R and College of Engineering
Mehran Armand and Alejandro Martin Gomez will advance medical robotics and extended reality research at the U of A.
U of A School of Law Student Selected for Shook Scholars Institute
First-year law student Gabrielle Rancifer was selected as one of 20 stuents from around the country to participate in the Shook Scholars Institute held April 3-5, in Kansas City, Missouri.
'Stop Sign' Disclosures on Ultra-Processed Food Have Positive Effect
Researchers found that front-of-packaging marketing claims used on ultra-processed foods can be misleading to consumers.
Registered Student Organizations: Re-Register Now for 2024-25; Deadline May 12
All current RSOs that plan to be active during the 2024-25 academic year must complete the registration process by May 12.
NEH Grant to Support History Research on South American Indigenous War and Mission Militias
Shawn Austin, associate professor of history, received a National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Stipend for his book about Guaraní Militias in the Spanish Río de la Plata, 16th-19th Centuries.