Antiferroelectric-like Behavior in a Lead-Free Perovskite Layered Structure Ceramic.

Antiferroelectric (AFE) materials have been intensively studied due to their potential uses in energy storage applications and energy conversion. These materials are characterized by double polarization-electric field (P-E) hysteresis loops and nonpolar crystal structures. Unusually, in the present work, Sr1.68La0.32Ta1.68Ti0.32O7 (STLT32), Sr1.64La0.36Ta1.64Ti0.36O7 (STLT36), and Sr1.85Ca0.15Ta2O7 (SCT15), lead-free perovskite layered structure (PLS) materials, are shown to exhibit AFE-like double P-E hysteresis loops despite maintaining a polar crystal structure. The double hysteresis loops are present over wide ranges of electric field and temperature. While neutron diffraction and piezoresponse force microscopy results indicate that the STLT32 system should be ferroelectric at room temperature, the observed AFE-like electrical behavior suggests that the electrical response is dominated by a weakly polar phase with a field-induced transition to a more strongly polar phase. Variable-temperature dielectric measurements suggest the presence of two-phase transitions in STLT32 at ca. 250 and 750 °C. The latter transition is confirmed by thermal analysis and is accompanied by structural changes in the layers, such as in the degree of octahedral tilting and changes in the perovskite block width and interlayer gap, associated with a change from non-centrosymmetric to centrosymmetric structures. The lower-temperature transition is more diffuse in nature but is evidenced by subtle changes in the lattice parameters. The dielectric properties of an STLT32 ceramic at microwave frequencies was measured using a coplanar waveguide transmission line and revealed stable permittivity from 1 kHz up to 20 GHz with low dielectric loss. This work represents the first observation of its kind in a PLS-type material.

Design and experimental demonstration of Doppler cloak from spatiotemporally modulated metamaterials based on rotational Doppler effect.

Recently, spatiotemporally modulated metamaterial has been theoretically demonstrated for the design of Doppler cloak, a technique used to cloak the motion of moving objects from the observer by compensating for the Doppler shift. Linear Doppler effect has an angular counterpart, i.e., the rotational Doppler effect, which can be observed by the orbital angular momentum (OAM) of light scattered from a spinning object. In this work, we predict that the spatiotemporally modulated metamaterial has its angular equivalent phenomenon. We therefore propose a technique to observe the rotational Doppler effect by cylindrical spatiotemporally modulated metamaterial. Conversely, such a metamaterial is able to cloak the Doppler shift associated with linear motion by generating an opposite rotational Doppler shift. This novel concept is theoretically analyzed, and a conceptual design by spatiotemporally modulating the permittivity of a voltage-controlled OAM ferroelectric reflector is demonstrated by theoretical calculation and numerical simulation. Finally, a Doppler cloak is experimentally demonstrated by a spinning OAM metasurface in radar system, which the spatiotemporal reflection phase are mechanically modulated. Our work presented in this paper may pave the way for new directions of OAM carrying beams and science of cloaking, and also explore the potential applications of tunable materials and metasurfaces.

Experimental Observation of Linear and Rotational Doppler Shifts from Several Designer Surfaces.

An orbital angular momentum (OAM) carrying beam has the ability to detect a spinning surface from its rotational Doppler effect. However, a mixture of linear and rotational Doppler effects can occur when an OAM beam is illuminated to a target, with not only spins but also vibrations. In this paper, we experimentally observe using OAM carrying beams, both linear and rotational Doppler effects from several designer surfaces. Specifically, a spinning polarization-independent metasurface, helicoidal reflector and propeller are applied respectively in this study. We demonstrate by the use of two microwave beams with opposite OAM to separate rotational Doppler shift from micro-Doppler shift. The proposed method can also be applied to measure the spinning speed of rotational objects, which have wider applications in intelligent sensing, radar and quantum optics.