Metaferroelectrics: Artificial Ferroelectricity in Metamaterials

TL;DR

This paper introduces metaferroelectrics, a new class of metamaterials that exhibit ferroelectric behavior despite having non-ferroelectric components, with potential applications in nano-optoelectronics.

Contribution

It demonstrates the existence of metaferroelectrics, revealing how artificial structures can mimic ferroelectricity and depend on shape and anisotropy for small samples.

Findings

Metaferroelectrics exhibit ferroelectric response despite non-ferroelectric constituents.

The ferroelectric effect is anisotropic and shape-dependent in small samples.

Potential applications in nano-optoelectronics are identified.

Abstract

Metamaterials are artificial periodic structures which represent effective homogeneous medium for electromagnetic fields. Here I show that there exists an important class of such composite systems, metaferroelectrics. They are properly designed metamaterials with non-ferroelectric constituents which, nevertheless, exhibit ferroelectric response. Furthermore, for relatively small samples the effect is anisotropic and strongly depends on the sample shape. Metaferroelectrics will help to understand deeper the physics of ferroelectricity and show enormous potential for applications in the field of nano-optoelectronics.