CAREER: Towards a Deep Microscopic Understanding of Ferroelectric Alloys

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The research supported under this CAREER award to this young PI consists of a study of structural, piezoelectric and dielectric properties of ferroelectric alloys. The study will be conducted using three different although complementary approaches: (1) A very accurate first principles technique for electronic structure calculations, (2) an effective Hamiltonian approach which will extend the reach of first-principles calculations to realistic systems at finite temperatures and (3) simple models which will provide a microscopic understanding of some complex alloy phenomena. In education, the PI is planning to integrate computational condensed matter physics in undergraduate and graduate courses at the University of Arkansas.%%%Materials with large dielectric constants are technologically very important, most prominently in the hand-held communications (for example in reducing the size of cell phones) industry. There are other applications such as piezoelectric transducers and actuators, non-volatile ferroelectric memories, pyroelectric arrays and non-linear optical applications. This CAREER grant will help this PI study the properties of ferroelectric alloys and other materials with notable dielectric properties. Beginning with the properties of electrons in atoms making up the solid, using sophisticated computational techniques and computers, this PI will set up a program of research to study these materials. He also plans to integrate this combined (mathematical-computational) approach in courses at the undergraduate and graduate level.***