75914 20191122145054.0 doi 10.1038/s41565-017-0001-2 sideral 101788 ART-2018-101788 eng Martinez-Castro, Jose Electric polarizaion switching in an atomically thin binary rock salt structure 2018 Access copy available to the general public Unrestricted Inducing and controlling electric dipoles is hindered in the ultrathin limit by the finite screening length of surface charges at metal–insulator junctions, although this effect can be circumvented by specially designed interfaces. Heterostructures of insulating materials hold great promise, as confirmed by perovskite oxide superlattices with compositional substitution to artificially break the structural inversion symmetry. Bringing this concept to the ultrathin limit would substantially broaden the range of materials and func- tionalities that could be exploited in novel nanoscale device designs. Here, we report that non-zero electric polarization can be induced and reversed in a hysteretic manner in bilay- ers made of ultrathin insulators whose electric polarization cannot be switched individually. In particular, we explore the interface between ionic rock salt alkali halides such as NaCl or KBr and polar insulating Cu2N terminating bulk copper. The strong compositional asymmetry between the polar Cu2N and the vacuum gap breaks inversion symmetry in the alkali halide layer, inducing out-of-plane dipoles that are stabilized in one orientation (self-poling). The dipole orientation can be reversed by a critical electric field, producing sharp switching of the tunnel current passing through the junction. info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/MINECO/MAT2013-46593-C6-3-P info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess All rights reserved http://www.europeana.eu/rights/rr-f/ 33.407 2018 NANOSCIENCE & NANOTECHNOLOGY 2 / 94 = 0.021 2018 Q1 T1 MATERIALS SCIENCE, MULTIDISCIPLINARY 4 / 293 = 0.014 2018 Q1 T1 17.049 2018 Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics 2018 Q1 Bioengineering 2018 Q1 Biomedical Engineering 2018 Q1 Nanoscience and Nanotechnology 2018 Q1 Electrical and Electronic Engineering 2018 Q1 Materials Science (miscellaneous) 2018 Q1 Condensed Matter Physics 2018 Q1 info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersion Piantek, Marten Schubert, Sonja Persson, Mats (orcid)0000-0002-3260-9641 Serrate, David Universidad de Zaragoza Hirjibehedin, Cyrus F. 2003 395 Universidad de Zaragoza Dpto. Física Materia Condensa. Área Física Materia Condensada 13 (2018), 19-23 Nat. Nanotechnol. Nature Nanotechnology 1748-3387 1147428 http://zaguan.unizar.es/record/75914/files/texto_completo.pdf Postprint 132073 http://zaguan.unizar.es/record/75914/files/texto_completo.jpg?subformat=icon icon Postprint oai:zaguan.unizar.es:75914 articulos driver 2019-11-22-14:44:35 ARTICLE