From Fayetteville to France: A Ferroelectric Partnership

From computer memory and medical ultrasound to sonar and advanced sensors, ferroelectric materials drive technologies found in billions of devices. Their unique ability to retain an electrical state after power is removed makes them well-suited for data storage, while their ability to convert mechanical motion into electrical signals — as well as electrical signals into mechanical motion — enables a wide range of sensing and imaging applications.

The U of A has long been a leader in ferroelectric materials research. In 2024, the university established the Smart Ferroic Materials Center in partnership with CentraleSupélec, one of Europe'sleading engineering schools. 

Charles Paillard, a U of A associate professor of physics and a graduate of CentraleSupélec, directs the center. In this Q&A, edited for length and clarity, Paillard explains how the international collaboration will advance research and create new opportunities for both undergraduate and graduate students in Arkansas and France. 

How can ferroelectric materials be improved, and what new applications could emerge? 

For some traditional applications, we can further optimize the materials, such as producing new memories that consume less energy or are more robust against external perturbations. Or we could make better acoustic transducers for health purposes like ultrasound or for marine detection. We could also develop new applications. Right now, we are really looking into neuromorphic computing. There is a kind of ordering that happens in these ferroelectric materials. If you frustrate this ordering, you can get a response that mimics how synapses in our brain work. That could lead to faster, low-energy computing or in-memory computing, which avoids having to transfer information from the memory to the computing unit. And with the age of artificial intelligence and data centers, if we can scale those materials, it could make AI more accessible and less costly. 

How did this joint center with CentraleSupélec in France come about? 

It comes back to the history of research on ferroic material at the University of Arkansas. Laurent Bellaiche almost a quarter century ago started a fruitful collaboration with researchers in France, which has produced about 50 joint publications in excellent journals. We figured that it would be a good idea to formalize this. The joint center also opens up other sources of potential funding, and our students and faculty will benefit from it. We've already had one undergrad go to France last spring, and we're supposed to have another undergrad going there next fall. Similarly, three of our faculty have spent several weeks in CentraleSupélec, while we hosted four CentraleSupélec faculty in November. 

Tell me more about what the advantages are for both institutions. How do their resources mesh? 

There is this clear synergy between what we know on the theoretical aspect here at the U of A and what they do on the experimental aspect there. Also, there is a very practical reason. The current global landscape has tended to close certain countries out of research for both postdocs and graduate students. But we figured, if we get together, then we can exchange students and postdocs as well. 

Since launching in 2024, what has the center achieved?

We've published more than 60 papers in about two years, which is quite productive, thanks to our highly efficient and highly productive faculty. We've acquired about a million and a half to $2 million in funding from various sources. We have a proposal for an undergraduate study abroad exchange program under review here at the University of Arkansas. We are a relatively small center in terms of faculty. We're about 14 to 15, which includes the faculty on both sides.  

What do you hope the center will accomplish in the coming years?

For me, the dream is building a dual Ph.D. program to offer a unique experience to bright graduate students. I think that would really be a path forward to increase the prestige of our respective institutions, the excellence of our research and to serve the state of Arkansas. Obviously, we also want to attract as much funding as we can in a difficult, shifting and complex funding landscape right now, so that we can push the highest level of excellence in our fundamental research. Despite these challenges, I would say the Smart Ferroic Materials Center is uniquely positioned to come ahead and lead the research and education landscape in ferroic materials for the next decade. Strong support from federal agencies and synergies within the University of Arkansas and CentraleSupélec will inevitably bolster our efforts to discover, understand and develop the next generation of functional materials, such as atomically thin ferroelectrics or ferroelectric materials for high-power electronics. These are exciting times!