Periodic Reporting for period 1 - TOPTOP (Tailoring of Polar Topologies with Optical Pulses)
Berichtszeitraum: 2024-09-01 bis 2026-08-31
Zusammenfassung vom Kontext und den Gesamtzielen des Projekts
The project was developed in the context of the rapidly emerging field of topological phenomena in functional oxide materials. In recent years, ferroelectric heterostructures and oxide nanostructures have been shown to host a remarkable variety of non-trivial polar textures, including vortices, skyrmions, merons, domain-wall networks and other topologically protected configurations. These structures arise from the delicate competition between electrostatic, elastic and gradient energies and offer fundamentally new ways of controlling the properties of matter at the nanoscale. Beyond their fundamental interest for condensed-matter physics, they have attracted considerable attention because of their potentially unusual functional properties interesting for nano electronics, including chirality, negative capacitance, ultrafast dynamics and the possibility of multiple metastable states.
The central challenge addressed by the project was to understand and ultimately control these complex polar states at the atomistic level. Although effective Hamiltonian and continuum approaches had already demonstrated that external stimuli could induce transformations between different polar configurations, a systematic microscopic understanding of the mechanisms governing these transformations was still lacking. In particular, the role of the full set of atomic degrees of freedom and of their coupling through phonons had not been systematically explored. This limited the ability to predict which structures could be stabilised, how rapidly they could evolve, and how their final state could be controlled by an external stimulus.
The project therefore aimed to develop a predictive, quantum-mechanical description of topological polar textures and their dynamics by combining first-principles information with second-principles effective atomic potentials. This approach provides an important bridge between the accuracy of first-principles calculations and the length and time scales required to study complex collective phenomena under realistic conditions. In particular, the project sought to go beyond models based on a small number of predefined structural modes and retain the full atomic degrees of freedom, thereby enabling a more complete description of the microscopic mechanisms underlying topological phase formation and transformation. This methodological strategy was explicitly identified in the original project as a key element going beyond the state of the art.
The overall scientific objective was to establish a microscopic understanding of the relationship between atomic vibrations, topological polar order and external stimuli in ferroelectric/dielectric heterostructures. The work was structured around three interconnected scientific goals: (i) developing and validating second-principles models for relevant oxide heterostructures; (ii) identifying and characterising their competing topological phases and the phonon modes associated with them; and (iii) using this information to investigate the possibility of dynamically manipulating the polar textures through tailored electric-field excitations. The original proposal envisaged this as a pathway from microscopic modelling, through identification of the relevant phases and dynamical mechanisms, towards deterministic control of the resulting polar state.
A particularly important motivation was the possibility of exploiting the rich phase space and various functional properties of these systems for future information technologies. The existence of multiple metastable polar configurations provides a physical basis for storing different states, while their sensitivity to external electric fields and their ultrafast dynamics suggest opportunities for non-conventional computing architectures. The project was therefore positioned at the interface between fundamental condensed-matter physics, materials modelling, computational science and emerging nanoelectronics.
The pathway to impact was designed accordingly. At the scientific level, the project aimed to generate new knowledge on topological phases, phonon-mediated structural dynamics and the coupling between atomic distortions and functional properties. At the methodological level, it aimed to extend the capabilities of second-principles modelling and the associated open-source computational ecosystem, making advanced simulations of complex oxide systems accessible at length and time scales beyond conventional first-principles calculations. At the experimental level, the original project established a strong theory–experiment feedback strategy involving collaborations with leading groups working on the synthesis, structural characterisation and ultrafast excitation of oxide heterostructures.
The project was also conceived as a vehicle for building a European research network around this emerging scientific area. The planned interactions with different experimental groups, together with the broader ABINIT and European research communities, were intended to ensure that theoretical developments would be continuously confronted with experimental perspectives and incorporated into a wider scientific ecosystem. The project environment was particularly well suited to this objective through the host group's central role in the development of ABINIT/MULTIBINIT and its collaborations with leading groups around the world.
The central challenge addressed by the project was to understand and ultimately control these complex polar states at the atomistic level. Although effective Hamiltonian and continuum approaches had already demonstrated that external stimuli could induce transformations between different polar configurations, a systematic microscopic understanding of the mechanisms governing these transformations was still lacking. In particular, the role of the full set of atomic degrees of freedom and of their coupling through phonons had not been systematically explored. This limited the ability to predict which structures could be stabilised, how rapidly they could evolve, and how their final state could be controlled by an external stimulus.
The project therefore aimed to develop a predictive, quantum-mechanical description of topological polar textures and their dynamics by combining first-principles information with second-principles effective atomic potentials. This approach provides an important bridge between the accuracy of first-principles calculations and the length and time scales required to study complex collective phenomena under realistic conditions. In particular, the project sought to go beyond models based on a small number of predefined structural modes and retain the full atomic degrees of freedom, thereby enabling a more complete description of the microscopic mechanisms underlying topological phase formation and transformation. This methodological strategy was explicitly identified in the original project as a key element going beyond the state of the art.
The overall scientific objective was to establish a microscopic understanding of the relationship between atomic vibrations, topological polar order and external stimuli in ferroelectric/dielectric heterostructures. The work was structured around three interconnected scientific goals: (i) developing and validating second-principles models for relevant oxide heterostructures; (ii) identifying and characterising their competing topological phases and the phonon modes associated with them; and (iii) using this information to investigate the possibility of dynamically manipulating the polar textures through tailored electric-field excitations. The original proposal envisaged this as a pathway from microscopic modelling, through identification of the relevant phases and dynamical mechanisms, towards deterministic control of the resulting polar state.
A particularly important motivation was the possibility of exploiting the rich phase space and various functional properties of these systems for future information technologies. The existence of multiple metastable polar configurations provides a physical basis for storing different states, while their sensitivity to external electric fields and their ultrafast dynamics suggest opportunities for non-conventional computing architectures. The project was therefore positioned at the interface between fundamental condensed-matter physics, materials modelling, computational science and emerging nanoelectronics.
The pathway to impact was designed accordingly. At the scientific level, the project aimed to generate new knowledge on topological phases, phonon-mediated structural dynamics and the coupling between atomic distortions and functional properties. At the methodological level, it aimed to extend the capabilities of second-principles modelling and the associated open-source computational ecosystem, making advanced simulations of complex oxide systems accessible at length and time scales beyond conventional first-principles calculations. At the experimental level, the original project established a strong theory–experiment feedback strategy involving collaborations with leading groups working on the synthesis, structural characterisation and ultrafast excitation of oxide heterostructures.
The project was also conceived as a vehicle for building a European research network around this emerging scientific area. The planned interactions with different experimental groups, together with the broader ABINIT and European research communities, were intended to ensure that theoretical developments would be continuously confronted with experimental perspectives and incorporated into a wider scientific ecosystem. The project environment was particularly well suited to this objective through the host group's central role in the development of ABINIT/MULTIBINIT and its collaborations with leading groups around the world.
Arbeit, die ab Beginn des Projekts bis zum Ende des durch den Bericht erfassten Berichtszeitraums geleistet wurde, und die wichtigsten bis dahin erzielten Ergebnisse
The scientific work carried out during the fellowship followed the central objective of developing a microscopic understanding and predictive control of complex topological polar states in functional oxide materials. The research combined first-principles calculations, second-principles effective atomic potentials, phonon analysis and atomistic molecular-dynamics simulations. Starting from the methodology proposed in the original project, the work progressively expanded towards a broader range of materials and phenomena, allowing several of the initial objectives to be addressed while opening new scientific directions.
Development and application of second-principles modelling approaches:
A first major component of the project was the development and application of second-principles effective atomic potential approaches to complex ferroelectric and dielectric systems. The objective was to retain the full atomic degrees of freedom while reaching the length and time scales required to investigate collective topological phenomena. This provided the computational basis for studying structures and dynamical processes that are difficult to access using conventional first-principles molecular dynamics.
The methodology was applied in particular to ferroelectric/dielectric heterostructures, with emphasis on PbTiO₃/SrTiO₃ superlattices and related systems. The work included the construction and validation of atomistic models, analysis of the energetics of different structural configurations, and investigation of the coupling between polar distortions and other structural degrees of freedom. This directly addressed the first objective of the project, namely to establish reliable second-principles models capable of describing complex polar textures under different structural and external conditions. The project also contributed to the broader development of the computational framework used for these simulations, within the ABINIT/MULTIBINIT ecosystem.
An important outcome was the demonstration that the full atomic description provides access to structural couplings that are not necessarily captured when the system is reduced to a small number of predefined collective modes. In particular, the work established the importance of the coupling between polar topologies and oxygen-octahedral rotations in PbTiO₃/SrTiO₃ superlattices. This result provided a more complete microscopic picture of the structural mechanisms governing the stability and properties of topological polar configurations.
Importantly, all the developments done within ABINIT are now open access and all the second-principles models used for the publications have been publicly delivered and are now free to use for the community.
Stabilisation and characterisation of topological polar textures:
A second major part of the project concerned the identification, stabilisation and characterisation of non-trivial polar configurations. Following the original research plan, different metastable polar states were investigated as a function of the material composition and structural constraints. The calculations allowed the energetics and stability of competing configurations to be examined and provided a microscopic description of the associated structural distortions.
The research subsequently demonstrated that the accessible landscape of topological structures is considerably richer than the initial PbTiO₃/SrTiO₃ case considered in the proposal. In particular, the project established switchable skyrmion–antiskyrmion tubes in rhombohedral BaTiO₃ and related materials, thereby demonstrating that topological polar structures are not restricted to the prototypical tetragonal systems initially considered.
The work also revealed the emergence of multimodal topological textures resulting from the coupling of different structural orders in SrTiO₃. This demonstrated that topological polar structures can arise from the cooperative interaction of several structural degrees of freedom rather than from a single isolated polar instability. The resulting picture provides a broader framework for understanding the formation and stability of complex topological states in oxide materials.
Phonon properties and dynamical mechanisms
A central scientific objective of the project was to establish the connection between topological structures and their vibrational degrees of freedom. Phonon calculations were therefore performed for different polar configurations in order to identify the characteristic vibrational modes associated with the structures and to determine how these modes couple to the topological order.
This work provided the basis for investigating the dynamical manipulation of polar textures. Rather than treating the topological configuration as a purely static structural object, the project established a framework in which its evolution can be understood in terms of coupled atomic vibrations and collective structural distortions.
A major outcome of this research was the demonstration that polar topologies can be dynamically manipulated through acoustic phonon excitations. This established a direct connection between lattice dynamics and topological-state control and provided a microscopic mechanism for modifying the polar texture through targeted vibrational excitation. The corresponding results were published in Nano Letters under the title Dynamical Manipulation of Polar Topologies from Acoustic Phonon Excitations.
The project therefore progressed from the initial objective of identifying the relevant phonon modes towards demonstrating their use as an active mechanism for controlling topological states. This constitutes an important scientific advance over a purely equilibrium description of the phase diagram.
Dynamical control using external electric fields:
The most direct continuation of the phonon analysis was the investigation of the response of polar textures to time-dependent and spatially varying electric fields. The computational framework was extended beyond static electric fields to investigate the effect of dynamical external stimuli on the atomic structure.
Molecular-dynamics simulations were used to follow the evolution of the polar textures following external excitation and to determine how the characteristics of the applied field affect the resulting state. The work demonstrated that the position, configuration and evolution of polar textures can be controlled through appropriately designed inhomogeneous and time-dependent electric fields.
This resulted in the publication Precise control and displacement of polar textures from inhomogeneous and time-dependent electric fields in Physical Review B. The result directly addresses one of the central ambitions of the original proposal: moving from the identification of metastable states towards active and controllable manipulation of topological structures.
The combination of phonon analysis and time-dependent atomistic simulations consequently established a more general picture in which the structural state of the material can be manipulated dynamically through external stimuli. This provides a microscopic basis for the concept of shape-on-demand control proposed at the beginning of the fellowship.
Extension of the project towards structural chirality:
During the project, the research also developed a significant complementary direction concerning structural chirality. This was closely connected to the original interest in topological order and the role of symmetry and structural distortions in determining functional properties.
The work resulted in the development of methods to identify and characterise structural chirality in periodic inorganic materials, including the development of an algorithm for identifying displacive chiral phase transitions and computational approaches for determining the handedness of periodic structures. The resulting research established a systematic framework for analysing chirality from first-principles calculations.
This line of work produced several publications, including Structural chirality measurements and computation of handedness in periodic solids, Pathways to crystal chirality: An algorithm to identify displacive chiral phase transitions, and Structural chirality and natural optical activity across the α to β phase transition in SiO2 and AlPO₄ from first principles.
A particularly important conceptual outcome was the demonstration that chirality in structural phase transitions has to be treated carefully from the perspective of symmetry and phase-transition theory. This led to the result reported in Physical Review Letters, Chirality Cannot Be Ferroic in Phase Transitions Leading to Enantiomorphic Space-Group Pairs, which provides a fundamental clarification of the conditions under which chirality can emerge during structural phase transitions.
Although this direction developed beyond the narrowest formulation of the original work plan, it is directly connected to the project's broader objective of understanding topological and symmetry-related structural phenomena in functional materials. It also significantly broadened the scientific scope of the fellowship.
Coupling between polar, structural and functional degrees of freedom:
An important overarching achievement of the project was therefore to move beyond the description of individual topological textures towards an understanding of the coupling between several structural degrees of freedom. The results obtained during the fellowship demonstrate that the behaviour of polar topologies cannot always be understood by considering polarization alone. Oxygen-octahedral rotations, acoustic phonons and other structural distortions can play an essential role in determining the stability, dynamics and response of the topological states.
This broader perspective is reflected in the range of systems investigated during the fellowship, from PbTiO₃/SrTiO₃ superlattices to BaTiO₃ and SrTiO₃-based systems, as well as in the extension towards structural chirality and related phenomena. The resulting research programme has consequently moved from the study of a specific prototype system towards a more general microscopic framework for understanding and controlling complex structural order in functional oxides.
Overall scientific achievements.
Moving in this direction, an important extension of these materials was done in the context of layered ferroelectrics. In collaboration with experimental partners, the research demonstrated a completely novel perpendicular switching mechanism in layered ferroelectric materials, in which the polarisation can be switched between orientations that are not accessible through conventional switching pathways. This work represents an important advance because it connects the microscopic understanding of coupled structural and polar degrees of freedom developed within the project with an experimentally relevant functionality in a technologically relevant class of ferroelectric materials.
The resulting work, Perpendicular switching of polarization in layered ferroelectrics, was published in Nature with the PI of this project as a co-first author.
This result is particularly significant in the context of the original project objectives because it demonstrates that the fundamental concepts investigated during the fellowship—coupled structural order, polarisation control and non-conventional switching pathways—can lead to experimentally demonstrated functionalities with potential relevance for future low-power nanoelectronic technologies. It therefore represents a clear example of the progression from fundamental atomistic modelling towards a concrete materials functionality.
Taken together, the scientific work performed during the fellowship achieved the main technical objectives originally defined in the project. Second-principles atomistic modelling was established and applied to complex oxide systems; different metastable and topological polar configurations were identified and characterised; their coupling to lattice degrees of freedom was investigated through phonon analysis; and their response to dynamical external stimuli was demonstrated through atomistic simulations. The project also extended these concepts to new materials and to the broader problem of structural chirality.
The scientific output (collecting 16 published works in Q1 international journals) provides evidence of this progression, with peer-reviewed publications addressing dynamical manipulation of polar topologies, electric-field control and displacement of polar textures, switchable skyrmion–antiskyrmion tubes, multimodal topological textures, mechanical coupling between polar topologies and oxygen-octahedral rotations, and structural chirality.
The outcome is therefore not only a collection of individual results, but a coherent microscopic framework connecting atomic-scale interactions, phonon dynamics, topological order and external control. This represents a substantial scientific development from the initial objectives of the fellowship and provides a foundation for further theoretical and experimental investigation of dynamically controllable topological and structural states in functional materials.
Development and application of second-principles modelling approaches:
A first major component of the project was the development and application of second-principles effective atomic potential approaches to complex ferroelectric and dielectric systems. The objective was to retain the full atomic degrees of freedom while reaching the length and time scales required to investigate collective topological phenomena. This provided the computational basis for studying structures and dynamical processes that are difficult to access using conventional first-principles molecular dynamics.
The methodology was applied in particular to ferroelectric/dielectric heterostructures, with emphasis on PbTiO₃/SrTiO₃ superlattices and related systems. The work included the construction and validation of atomistic models, analysis of the energetics of different structural configurations, and investigation of the coupling between polar distortions and other structural degrees of freedom. This directly addressed the first objective of the project, namely to establish reliable second-principles models capable of describing complex polar textures under different structural and external conditions. The project also contributed to the broader development of the computational framework used for these simulations, within the ABINIT/MULTIBINIT ecosystem.
An important outcome was the demonstration that the full atomic description provides access to structural couplings that are not necessarily captured when the system is reduced to a small number of predefined collective modes. In particular, the work established the importance of the coupling between polar topologies and oxygen-octahedral rotations in PbTiO₃/SrTiO₃ superlattices. This result provided a more complete microscopic picture of the structural mechanisms governing the stability and properties of topological polar configurations.
Importantly, all the developments done within ABINIT are now open access and all the second-principles models used for the publications have been publicly delivered and are now free to use for the community.
Stabilisation and characterisation of topological polar textures:
A second major part of the project concerned the identification, stabilisation and characterisation of non-trivial polar configurations. Following the original research plan, different metastable polar states were investigated as a function of the material composition and structural constraints. The calculations allowed the energetics and stability of competing configurations to be examined and provided a microscopic description of the associated structural distortions.
The research subsequently demonstrated that the accessible landscape of topological structures is considerably richer than the initial PbTiO₃/SrTiO₃ case considered in the proposal. In particular, the project established switchable skyrmion–antiskyrmion tubes in rhombohedral BaTiO₃ and related materials, thereby demonstrating that topological polar structures are not restricted to the prototypical tetragonal systems initially considered.
The work also revealed the emergence of multimodal topological textures resulting from the coupling of different structural orders in SrTiO₃. This demonstrated that topological polar structures can arise from the cooperative interaction of several structural degrees of freedom rather than from a single isolated polar instability. The resulting picture provides a broader framework for understanding the formation and stability of complex topological states in oxide materials.
Phonon properties and dynamical mechanisms
A central scientific objective of the project was to establish the connection between topological structures and their vibrational degrees of freedom. Phonon calculations were therefore performed for different polar configurations in order to identify the characteristic vibrational modes associated with the structures and to determine how these modes couple to the topological order.
This work provided the basis for investigating the dynamical manipulation of polar textures. Rather than treating the topological configuration as a purely static structural object, the project established a framework in which its evolution can be understood in terms of coupled atomic vibrations and collective structural distortions.
A major outcome of this research was the demonstration that polar topologies can be dynamically manipulated through acoustic phonon excitations. This established a direct connection between lattice dynamics and topological-state control and provided a microscopic mechanism for modifying the polar texture through targeted vibrational excitation. The corresponding results were published in Nano Letters under the title Dynamical Manipulation of Polar Topologies from Acoustic Phonon Excitations.
The project therefore progressed from the initial objective of identifying the relevant phonon modes towards demonstrating their use as an active mechanism for controlling topological states. This constitutes an important scientific advance over a purely equilibrium description of the phase diagram.
Dynamical control using external electric fields:
The most direct continuation of the phonon analysis was the investigation of the response of polar textures to time-dependent and spatially varying electric fields. The computational framework was extended beyond static electric fields to investigate the effect of dynamical external stimuli on the atomic structure.
Molecular-dynamics simulations were used to follow the evolution of the polar textures following external excitation and to determine how the characteristics of the applied field affect the resulting state. The work demonstrated that the position, configuration and evolution of polar textures can be controlled through appropriately designed inhomogeneous and time-dependent electric fields.
This resulted in the publication Precise control and displacement of polar textures from inhomogeneous and time-dependent electric fields in Physical Review B. The result directly addresses one of the central ambitions of the original proposal: moving from the identification of metastable states towards active and controllable manipulation of topological structures.
The combination of phonon analysis and time-dependent atomistic simulations consequently established a more general picture in which the structural state of the material can be manipulated dynamically through external stimuli. This provides a microscopic basis for the concept of shape-on-demand control proposed at the beginning of the fellowship.
Extension of the project towards structural chirality:
During the project, the research also developed a significant complementary direction concerning structural chirality. This was closely connected to the original interest in topological order and the role of symmetry and structural distortions in determining functional properties.
The work resulted in the development of methods to identify and characterise structural chirality in periodic inorganic materials, including the development of an algorithm for identifying displacive chiral phase transitions and computational approaches for determining the handedness of periodic structures. The resulting research established a systematic framework for analysing chirality from first-principles calculations.
This line of work produced several publications, including Structural chirality measurements and computation of handedness in periodic solids, Pathways to crystal chirality: An algorithm to identify displacive chiral phase transitions, and Structural chirality and natural optical activity across the α to β phase transition in SiO2 and AlPO₄ from first principles.
A particularly important conceptual outcome was the demonstration that chirality in structural phase transitions has to be treated carefully from the perspective of symmetry and phase-transition theory. This led to the result reported in Physical Review Letters, Chirality Cannot Be Ferroic in Phase Transitions Leading to Enantiomorphic Space-Group Pairs, which provides a fundamental clarification of the conditions under which chirality can emerge during structural phase transitions.
Although this direction developed beyond the narrowest formulation of the original work plan, it is directly connected to the project's broader objective of understanding topological and symmetry-related structural phenomena in functional materials. It also significantly broadened the scientific scope of the fellowship.
Coupling between polar, structural and functional degrees of freedom:
An important overarching achievement of the project was therefore to move beyond the description of individual topological textures towards an understanding of the coupling between several structural degrees of freedom. The results obtained during the fellowship demonstrate that the behaviour of polar topologies cannot always be understood by considering polarization alone. Oxygen-octahedral rotations, acoustic phonons and other structural distortions can play an essential role in determining the stability, dynamics and response of the topological states.
This broader perspective is reflected in the range of systems investigated during the fellowship, from PbTiO₃/SrTiO₃ superlattices to BaTiO₃ and SrTiO₃-based systems, as well as in the extension towards structural chirality and related phenomena. The resulting research programme has consequently moved from the study of a specific prototype system towards a more general microscopic framework for understanding and controlling complex structural order in functional oxides.
Overall scientific achievements.
Moving in this direction, an important extension of these materials was done in the context of layered ferroelectrics. In collaboration with experimental partners, the research demonstrated a completely novel perpendicular switching mechanism in layered ferroelectric materials, in which the polarisation can be switched between orientations that are not accessible through conventional switching pathways. This work represents an important advance because it connects the microscopic understanding of coupled structural and polar degrees of freedom developed within the project with an experimentally relevant functionality in a technologically relevant class of ferroelectric materials.
The resulting work, Perpendicular switching of polarization in layered ferroelectrics, was published in Nature with the PI of this project as a co-first author.
This result is particularly significant in the context of the original project objectives because it demonstrates that the fundamental concepts investigated during the fellowship—coupled structural order, polarisation control and non-conventional switching pathways—can lead to experimentally demonstrated functionalities with potential relevance for future low-power nanoelectronic technologies. It therefore represents a clear example of the progression from fundamental atomistic modelling towards a concrete materials functionality.
Taken together, the scientific work performed during the fellowship achieved the main technical objectives originally defined in the project. Second-principles atomistic modelling was established and applied to complex oxide systems; different metastable and topological polar configurations were identified and characterised; their coupling to lattice degrees of freedom was investigated through phonon analysis; and their response to dynamical external stimuli was demonstrated through atomistic simulations. The project also extended these concepts to new materials and to the broader problem of structural chirality.
The scientific output (collecting 16 published works in Q1 international journals) provides evidence of this progression, with peer-reviewed publications addressing dynamical manipulation of polar topologies, electric-field control and displacement of polar textures, switchable skyrmion–antiskyrmion tubes, multimodal topological textures, mechanical coupling between polar topologies and oxygen-octahedral rotations, and structural chirality.
The outcome is therefore not only a collection of individual results, but a coherent microscopic framework connecting atomic-scale interactions, phonon dynamics, topological order and external control. This represents a substantial scientific development from the initial objectives of the fellowship and provides a foundation for further theoretical and experimental investigation of dynamically controllable topological and structural states in functional materials.
Fortschritte, die über den aktuellen Stand der Technik hinausgehen und voraussichtliche potenzielle Auswirkungen (einschließlich der bis dato erzielten sozioökonomischen Auswirkungen und weiter gefassten gesellschaftlichen Auswirkungen des Projekts)
The project advanced the state of the art by establishing a microscopic framework to understand and control complex polar and topological states in functional oxides. In particular, it demonstrated that these states can be actively manipulated through tailored electric fields and phonon excitations, rather than being limited to equilibrium configurations. The work also revealed new forms of coupled structural and topological order, including switchable skyrmion–antiskyrmion structures and multimodal topological textures.
A particularly significant outcome was the contribution to the demonstration of perpendicular polarisation switching in layered ferroelectrics, published in Nature. This result shows that coupling between different structural degrees of freedom can enable switching pathways beyond conventional ferroelectric operation and opens possibilities for new device architectures.
The technological relevance of these results was further strengthened through interaction with Kepler Computing, connecting the fundamental materials research with emerging concepts for radically different computing architectures. The demonstrated control of polarisation and the availability of multiple structural states could provide a basis for future transistor concepts and low-power or neuromorphic computing technologies.
Further work is required to translate these results into devices, particularly experimental optimisation, integration into prototype architectures and assessment of switching speed, stability and energy consumption. Nevertheless, the project has established important scientific principles and materials concepts that provide a pathway towards new ferroelectric devices and potentially more energy-efficient computing technologies, going beyond the state of the art envisaged at the beginning of the fellowship.
A particularly significant outcome was the contribution to the demonstration of perpendicular polarisation switching in layered ferroelectrics, published in Nature. This result shows that coupling between different structural degrees of freedom can enable switching pathways beyond conventional ferroelectric operation and opens possibilities for new device architectures.
The technological relevance of these results was further strengthened through interaction with Kepler Computing, connecting the fundamental materials research with emerging concepts for radically different computing architectures. The demonstrated control of polarisation and the availability of multiple structural states could provide a basis for future transistor concepts and low-power or neuromorphic computing technologies.
Further work is required to translate these results into devices, particularly experimental optimisation, integration into prototype architectures and assessment of switching speed, stability and energy consumption. Nevertheless, the project has established important scientific principles and materials concepts that provide a pathway towards new ferroelectric devices and potentially more energy-efficient computing technologies, going beyond the state of the art envisaged at the beginning of the fellowship.