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New Delhi, Oct 20: A US research team including an Indian-American scientist has cracked a seven-decade-old chemical puzzle involving a material commonly used in computer memory devices, optics and lasers.
Naresh Dalal, professor of chemistry at the Florida State University, and his colleagues have figured out the origin of the electrical phenomenon called ferroelectricity in the material called ammonium dihydrogen phosphate (ADP).
Scientists believe the new insights into ADP could pave the way for superior computer memory technology, particularly for hand-held devices. The Florida researchers have published their findings in the journal Physical Review Letters.
After ADP was discovered in 1938, it was found to exhibit magnet-like properties called ferroelectricity. But ADP also often displays anti-ferroelectricity which had remained unexplained all these years. Now, using a supercomputer, Dalal and his colleagues performed complex calculations that has helped them determine why ADP behaves the way it does.
“We found that the position of the ammonium ion (a charged cluster of atoms) in the compound and the presence of stresses and defects in the crystal determine whether it behaves like a ferroelectric or anti-ferroelectric material,” Dalal said.
“This is pretty significant work with potential applications in high-capacity hand-held memory devices where anti-ferromagnetism is important,” said S.B. Krupanidhi, head of the materials research centre at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.
An understanding of how the atomic and molecular structure of this crystal influences its anti-ferroelectric behaviour would allow materials engineers to have better control over this property, Krupanidhi said.
“I would expect to see applications of this knowledge within five years,” he said.
Dalal said this discovery would allow scientists to further understand how to design new materials with both ferroelectric and anti-ferroelectric properties. “Doing so could open new doors for computer memory technology,” Dalal said.
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