Fundamental Physics of Ferroelectrics

The papers cover a wide range of disciplines in ferroelectrics, from understanding ferroelectric and dielectric behaviour using the fundamental physics of quantum mechanics, to those working on design and improvement of applications of ferroelectrics in devices.

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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 AWilliamsburg 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 given 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.