Fundamental Physics of Ferroelectrics 2000: Aspen Center for Physics Winter Workshop

Ronald E. Cohen, Carnegie Institution of Washington, Geophysical Laboratory, Washington, DC, USA

Conference Location and Date: Aspen, Colorado, 13-20 February 2000

Subseries: Materials Physics and Applications

Published August 2000; ISBN 1-56396-959-9, One Volume, Print; 396 pages; 6 3/8 x 9 1/4 inches; Hardcover;

Readership: material scientists; condensed matter physicists; electronics engineers; chemical physicists

This workshop was on the tenth anniversary of a series that has met every year since 1990 in Colonial Williamsburg until this year, and is thus commonly known as the "Williamsburg Workshop on Ferroelectrics." The workshop brought together people from a wide range of disciplines interested in ferroelectrics, from theorists working on understanding ferroelectric and dielectric behavior using the fundamental physics of quantum mechanics, to experimentalists working on understanding the behavior of ferroelectrics, and those working on design and improvement of applications of ferroelectrics in devices. The advances of the last decade and possible future developments are reviewed. The recent discovery of single crystal piezoelectrics with ten times the coupling strength of presently used materials, which will revolutionize medical imaging, sonar, and other acoustics applications, has especially given impetus to the field. The theoretical development in the last decade of a fundamental theory of polarization in insulating solids has provided the tools to study these materials from first principles. The papers in this volume capture the excitement of bringing together people from disparate backgrounds and seeing what comes out of the brew.

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