A memory effect in anti-ferroelectric materials discovered

Initial studies of anti-ferroelectric materials in the Applied Materials Laboratory at the University of Portsmouth indicate that these polar dielectrics can store digital information. The experimental results are very encouraging and an article is in preparation. Dr Vopson and Prof. Tan from Iowa State University, are currently working on the proposal of a novel anti-ferroelectric random access memory chip (AFRAM) that will compete with traditional ferroelectric random access memory (FRAM) to deliver twice the memory storage capacity in the same volume.

New Research published on Multicaloric Effect

The induced magnetic and electric fields’ paradox leading to multicaloric effects in multiferroics

M.M. Vopson 

Solid StateCommunications231-232(2016)14–16 

A b s t r a c t

Magneto-electric effect in multiferroics implies that an applied magnetic field induces an electric polarization change in a multiferroic solid and viceversa, an applied electric field modifies its magnetization. The magneto-electric effect is a powerful feature of multiferroics and has attracted huge interest due to potential technological applications.One such possible application is the multicaloric effect in multiferroics. However, a closer examination of this effect and its derivation leads to a paradox, in which the predicted changes in one of the order phase at a constant applied field are due to the excitation by the same field. Here this apparent paradox is first explained in detail and then solved. Understanding how electric and magnetic fields can be induced in multiferroic materials is an essential tool enabling their theoretical modeling as well as facilitating the introduction of future applications.
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Full text: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ssc.2016.01.021