Fall 2021 MBSE Seminar Series

"New Understanding and Emergent Phenomena in Ferroic Complex Oxide Thin Films"

Prof. Lane W. Martin
Chancellor’s Professor and Chair of the Department of Materials Science & Eng. 

University of California Berkeley

Dr. Lane W. Martin is Chancellor’s Professor and Chair of the Dept. of Materials Science and Eng. at the University of California, Berkeley and a Faculty Senior Scientist in the Materials Sciences Division at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Lane received his B.S. in Materials Science and Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University in 2003 and his M. S. and Ph.D. in MSE from UC Berkeley in 2006 and 2008, respectively. Lane served as a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Quantum Materials Program at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and was an Asst. Professor in the Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering at the U. of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign before returning to UC Berkeley in 2004. He has published >225 papers, his work has been cited >20,750 times (resulting in an h-index = 65; i10-index = 180), and he has given >150 invited, plenary, and keynote talks during his career. He has garnered many awards (too many to list here).

Abstract: Complex-oxide materials possess a range of interesting properties and phenomena that make them candidates for next-generation devices and applications. But before these materials can be integrated into state-of-the-art devices, it is important to understand how to control and engineer their response in a deterministic manner. In this talk we will discuss the science and engineering of complex ferroic materials and the potential for emergent order and phenomena. We will explore the role of the epitaxial thin-film growth process and the use of epitaxial constraints to engineer a range of systems with special attention to ferroelectric and relaxor materials. Recently, epitaxial strain has enabled the production of model versions of these complicated materials and the subsequent deterministic study of field-dependent response. Here, we investigate how new manifestations of epitaxial constraints can enhance electric field, stress, and temperature susceptibilities (i.e., dielectric, piezoelectric, pyroelectric, and electro-caloric effects). In particular, we explore how superlattices can produce novel states of matter –such as polar vortices and skyrmions and the potential for topological protection and exotic function. The discussion will range from the development of a fundamental understanding of the physics that lies at the heart of the observed effects, to an illustration of routes to manipulate and control these effects, to demonstration of solid-state devices based on these materials.