Abstract

Ferroelectrics belong to a class of functional materials called smart
materials because they can detect external stimuli and react to them.
This makes them very desirable in a large number of applications, from
gas lighters or inkjet printers, to movement detectors or
anti-vibration systems, among many others. New applications are
foreseen provided that miniaturization is achieved. For that, there is
a need to control the materials at smaller scales and to design better
and more efficient materials with multiple functionalities. I will
show how we can make artificial ferroics with control at the atomic
level, what they teach us about the basics of ferroelectric ordering
at the nanoscale and which are the possibilities and challenges they
present.