The Flexoelectric Effect: Theory, Experiments, and Applications
Keith Foreman Comprehensive Exam
9:00 am
Jorgensen Hall Room: 145
Advisor: Shireen Adenwalla
Abstract:
The flexoelectric effect – the polarization response of a material due to a strain gradient – is a universal property of all dielectrics. Until recently, studies on the flexoelectric effect were uncommon, due to the relatively small magnitude of the effect in bulk materials. Advances in nanoscale processing, however, have led to an increased interest in the flexoelectric effect since large strain gradients, and therefore large flexoelectric effects, can be achieved at the nanoscale. This talk reviews the phenomenological theory of the flexoelectric effect as well as its dependence on various material properties. Experimental techniques used to the measure the effect are discussed, and important technological and biological implications of flexoelectricity are presented. Finally, a proposal is made to use the flexoelectric effect in a magnetoelectric coupling experiment.
Abstract:
The flexoelectric effect – the polarization response of a material due to a strain gradient – is a universal property of all dielectrics. Until recently, studies on the flexoelectric effect were uncommon, due to the relatively small magnitude of the effect in bulk materials. Advances in nanoscale processing, however, have led to an increased interest in the flexoelectric effect since large strain gradients, and therefore large flexoelectric effects, can be achieved at the nanoscale. This talk reviews the phenomenological theory of the flexoelectric effect as well as its dependence on various material properties. Experimental techniques used to the measure the effect are discussed, and important technological and biological implications of flexoelectricity are presented. Finally, a proposal is made to use the flexoelectric effect in a magnetoelectric coupling experiment.