Straintronics with van der Waals Ferroelectrics

Principal investigator

Emeline Nysten, University of Münster [webpage]

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Abstract

The overarching goal of this project is to probe and manipulate both interlayer excitons and interfacial ferroelectricity in semiconducting van der Waals bilayer structures employing a combination of static electric fields and dynamic electric and strain fields. The dynamic strain and electric fields are generated in the form of surface acoustic waves (SAWs) on piezoelectric substrates at frequencies from 100MHz up to a few GHz. The project has two main goals: (i) build the foundation of the dynamic trapping of excitons in a programmable acoustic grid and (ii) the strain-driven control of the polarization and domains in ferroelectric bilayers.

The fabrication of the samples will be done in house using optical lithography, lift-off, exfoliation and tear-and-stack techniques. The main investigation methods are acousto-optic and acousto-opto-electric spectroscopies, a combination of micro-photoluminescence and SAW-spectroscopy developed in our group.