Porous ferroelectric lead zirconate titanate (PZT) films are a promising material for various electronic applications. This study focuses on understanding how the structure-directing agent, polyvinylpyrrolidone, can alter the structure and electrical properties of porous PZT films prepared through chemical solution deposition. Films with various porosities of up to ~40 vol.% and pore connectivities from 3-0 to 3-3 were prepared and studied by capacitance–voltage, dielectric hysteresis, transient current, photocurrent, and local current techniques. We have found that a linear decrease in material volume in a porous film is not the only factor that determines film properties. The creation of new internal grain boundaries plays a key role in changing electrical properties. This research expands the understanding of physical phenomena in porous ferroelectric films and may facilitate the development of new materials and devices.

The temperature of the transition to the polar state in ferroelectric composites, representing spherical ferroelectric inclusions embedded in a dielectric matrix, under a depolarizing field effect is investigated. This temperature is determined both in the absence and presence of screening effects of the depolarizing field of the bound charges of spontaneous polarization at the inclusions surface. The absence case shows that the Curie point shift is determined by the ratio of the Curie constant of the ferroelectric inclusion to the permittivity of the matrix. Screening effects show that the transition temperature shift decreases through multiplying the value by a decreasing factor equal to the ratio of the screening length to the radius of the ferroelectric inclusion. Examples of the materials for the position of the Curie point on the temperature scale, largely determined by the tilting action of the depolarizing field and the compensating shielding effects, are given.

We report an increase in terahertz (THz) radiation efficiency due to FeCo/WSe₂ structures in the reflection geometry. This can be attributed to an absorption increase in the alloy FeCo layer at the input FeCo/WSe₂ interface due to constructive interference, as well as to the backward transport of hot carriers from FeCo to WSe₂. In contrast to the transmission geometry, the THz generation efficiency in the reflection is much less dependent on the magnetic layer thickness. Our results suggest a cheap and efficient way to improve the characteristics of THz spintronic emitters with the conservation of a full set of their important properties.

The need to study ultrafast processes in magnetism is due to the prospects for creating ultrafast magnetic recording and ultrafast spintronic devices. In order to excite the magnetic subsystem femtosecond optical pulses are used. The excitement is manifested as in spin precession. In metals, the material is heated first due to significant optical absorption, and significant Joule losses occur. The most important task is to search for materials in which spin processes are excited without heating. Obvious candidates are weakly absorbing materials, such as ferrite garnets. However, the range of such materials and the range of their functionality are limited.The purpose of this work is to study the dynamics of systems with nonthermal mechanisms of spin precession excitation. Such excitation is possible in ferromagnetic / antiferromagnetic heterostructures with exchange interaction, provided that the recombination time of photocarriers is shorter than the time of heat diffusion. Multilayer TbCo / FeCo structures of the near IR range were investigated for a femtosecond optical pulse. The spin dynamics are compared with the direction of the wave vector of the exciting pulse along and perpendicular to the axis of easy magnetization of the structures (“easy axis” and “hard axis” geometry, respectively). It is shown that in case of “easy axis” geometry the determinative mechanism is the thermal interaction. When the system is exposed to an excitation pulse, this mechanism leads to a decrease in the projection of magnetization on the direction of propagation of the test beam. In case of “hard axis” geometry, the magnetization turns to the magnetic field at the initial stage. Then it precesses and relaxes to an equilibrium angular orientation. Such dynamics indicate a rapid recovery of the uniaxial anisotropy field after laser irradiation. The presented results demonstrate an ultrafast change in the magnetic anisotropy induced during the fabrication of the heterostructure under study, which may be of interest for optical control of the orientation of the magnetization.