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Nature Materials 4, 13–14 (1 January 2005) | doi:10.1038/nmat1287
Ferroelectrics: Novel geometric ordering of ferroelectricity
Abstract
Geometric ordering in nature in general and in solid-state physics in particular can be both subtle and complex. Although most of us have minds that think in rectilinear patterns, nature can be more devious, as demonstrated by the occurrence of vortex structures in type II superconductors, of disclination pairs (or dislocation pairs) in two-dimensional melting, or of smectic C|[ast]| liquid crystals whose loop structures could be unwound to produce net ferroelectricity through surface stabilization.
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