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Updated: Jan 2, 2026

Measuring Magnetically-Tuned Ferroelectric Polarization in Liquid Crystals
Published on: August 15, 2018
Uncompensated Polarization in Incommensurate Modulations of Perovskite Antiferroelectrics
Tao Ma1, Zhongming Fan2, Bin Xu3,4
1Ames Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy, Ames, Iowa 50011, USA.
Abstract:
Complex polar structures of incommensurate modulations (ICMs) are revealed in chemically modified PbZrO_{3} perovskite antiferroelectrics using advanced transmission electron microscopy techniques. The Pb-cation displacements, previously assumed to arrange in a fully compensated antiparallel fashion, are found to be either antiparallel, but with different magnitudes, or in a nearly orthogonal arrangement in adjacent stripes in the ICMs. Ab initio calculations corroborate the low-energy state of these arrangements. Our discovery corrects the atomic understanding of ICMs in PbZrO_{3}-based perovskite antiferroelectrics.
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