RQMP (CPM) Seminar

The physics of electron-doped ferroelectrics and quantum paraelectrics

Bill Atkinson

Trent University

The perovskite materials SrTiO₃ and KTaO₃ both lie close to a quantum critical point separating ferroelectric and paraelectric phases at zero temperature. The presence of a proximate quantum critical point makes these materials highly tunable via, for example, lattice strains, chemical doping, applied electric fields, and isotope substitution. This tunability extends to electron-doped versions of these materials and raises the possibility of bespoke and tunable electronic devices. In this talk, I will review our theoretical modeling of novel phenomena that may emerge at oxide interfaces involving quantum paraelectrics — both on the paraelectric and ferroelectric sides of the quantum critical point — and show that electron doping adds an additional and interesting axis along which these systems may be tuned.