Layered Ferroelectricity: from Geometric Measures to First-Principles Calculations

  The ability to locally switch a confined electric polarization is vital in modern technologies, aiming to complement or replace traditional magnetic components toward storing, retrieving, and processing large volumes of information. Non-centrosymmetrically stacked layered materials have recently emerged as promising candidates for vertical polarization switching via lateral interlayer shifts – a mechanism known as Slidetronics. In this presentation, I will elucidate the microscopic origins of polarization in layered materials; demonstrate that it is dictated by interlayer registry; explain its cumulative nature and its saturation behavior; show that it can emerge also in non-polar systems, such as graphitic interfaces; and extend the notion of slidetronics to the quasi-one-dimensional case of facetted nanotubes.