RESUMEN
The surface oxidation of aluminum is still poorly understood despite its vital role as an insulator in electronics, in aluminum-air batteries, and in protecting the metal against corrosion. Here we use atomic resolution imaging in an environmental transmission electron microscope (TEM) to investigate the mechanism of aluminum oxide formation. Harnessing electron beam sputtering we prepare a pristine, oxide-free metal surface in the TEM. This allows us to study, as a function of crystallographic orientation and oxygen gas pressure, the full oxide growth regime from the first oxide nucleation to a complete saturated, few-nanometers-thick surface film.
RESUMEN
The characteristics of a new ferroelectric measurement system at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility are presented. The electric-field-induced phase transitions of Pb(Mg(1/3)Nb(2/3))O(3)-xPbTiO(3) are determined via in situ measurements of electric polarization within the synchrotron diffraction beamline. Real-time data collection methods on single-crystal samples are employed as a function of frequency to determine the microstructural origin of piezoelectric effects within these materials, probing the dynamic ferroelectric response.
RESUMEN
Combining long-range magnetic order with polarity in the same structure is a prerequisite for the design of (magnetoelectric) multiferroic materials. There are now several demonstrated strategies to achieve this goal, but retaining magnetic order above room temperature remains a difficult target. Iron oxides in the +3 oxidation state have high magnetic ordering temperatures due to the size of the coupled moments. Here we prepare and characterize ScFeO(3) (SFO), which under pressure and in strain-stabilized thin films adopts a polar variant of the corundum structure, one of the archetypal binary oxide structures. Polar corundum ScFeO(3) has a weak ferromagnetic ground state below 356 K-this is in contrast to the purely antiferromagnetic ground state adopted by the well-studied ferroelectric BiFeO(3).
