Surface Electromechanical phenomena

This research line includes several themes:

• Research on nanoscale ferroelectrics by Piezoresponse Force Microscopy
• Development of new operation modes such as Piezoresistance Force Microscopy
• Study of gradient induced nanoscale electromechanical effects (flexoelectricity and converse flexoelectricity)
• The influence of adsorbates and surface on nanoscale electromechanical properties.

Electric, magnetic and mechanical properties of nanoscale domain walls

Atomic Force Microscopes are genuine nanolaboratories allowing to perform a full range of phenomena characterization in a nanoscale location with a single probe. In this sense, they become the perfect platforms to study the entanglement of different physical properties in natural nanoscale structures such as domain walls. Domain walls are known to present fundamental different properties from the neighborhood domains and can be easily moved and manipulated. In this sense, we seek for conductive properties of domain walls in dielectric materials, magnetic ordering at domain walls in non-magnetic materials or ferroelectric ordering at domain walls of paraelectric materials.