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Nicolas Guiblin

Publications and source records attributed to Nicolas Guiblin.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

Giant photostriction in lead-free ferroelectric stemming from photo-excited thermalized carriers

Ferroelectrics are polar materials whose polarization can be switched by applying electric fields; they offer unique opportunities to develop performant photostrictive materials, i.e., materials that can deform under visible light illumination. Naturally devoid of inversion symmetry, they exhibit original photogalvanic effects such as the Bulk Photovoltaic Effect, which relies on ``hot'' photoexcited carriers. It has long been thought that the electric field generated by this effect may couple to the natural piezoelectric abilities of ferroelectrics to provide large photoinduced deformations. However, due to competing effects, such as thermal dilatation, deformation potential, polarization, or depolarizing-field screening by \textit{thermalized} carriers, it remains unclear which microscopic phenomena govern the photoinduced deformations in classical ferroelectric materials. Here, we demonstrate the largest photoinduced deformation measured in a ferroelectric thin film. Reaching 1 %, this giant photostriction likely originates from the contribution of thermalized photoinduced carriers.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci

On the magnetoelastic and magnetoelectric couplings across the antiferromagnetic transition in multiferroic BiFeO3

Clear anomalies in the lattice thermal expansion (deviation from linear variation) and elastic properties (softening of the sound velocity) at the antiferromagnetic-to-paramagnetic transition are observed in the prototypical multiferroic BiFeO3 using a combination of picosecond acoustic pump-probe and high-temperature X-ray diffraction experiments. Similar anomalies are also evidenced using first-principles calculations supporting our experimental findings. Those calculations in addition to a simple Landau-like model we also developed allow to understand the elastic softening and lattice change at T_N as a result of magnetostriction combined with electrostrictive and magnetoelectric couplings which renormalize the elastic constants of the high-temperature reference phase when the critical T_N temperature is reached.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci

Local electrical control of magnetic order and orientation by ferroelastic domain arrangements just above room temperature

Ferroic materials (ferromagnetic, ferroelectric, ferroelastic) usually divide into domains with different orientations of their order parameter. Coupling different ferroic systems creates new functionalities, for instance the electrical control of macroscopic magnetic properties including magnetization and coercive field. Here we show that ferroelastic domains can be used to control both magnetic order and magnetization direction at the nanoscale with a voltage. We use element-specific x-ray imaging to map the magnetic domains as a function of temperature and voltage in epitaxial FeRh on ferroelastic BaTiO3. Exploiting the nanoscale phase-separation of FeRh, we locally interconvert between ferromagnetism and antiferromagnetism with a small electric field just above room temperature. Our results emphasize the importance of nanoscale ferroic domain structure to achieve enhanced coupling in artificial multiferroics.

cond-mat.mes-hall