Researchers from the groups of Klára Uhlířová and Tim Verhagen have become the first to discover moiré ferroelectricity in single crystals of chalcogenides with incommensurate crystal structures. The phenomenon was first identified during the work on a bachelor thesis, though the path to publication was a longer journey including detailed crystal structure characterization. A key strength of this discovery is that, unlike artificially engineered moiré lattices, ferroelectricity can now be studied in naturally grown single crystals with ultimately clean interfaces. Local material polarizability was demonstrated using piezoresponse force microscopy, and further studies—carried out during master’s and doctoral research—explored polarizability using electron beam lithography. A subsequent study even revealed catalytic behaviour linked to specific polar domain orientation. Electrical transport and other physical properties of these materials are currently under further investigation.

Last Saturday, there was a Garden party organized by our group head Ross Colman for (not only) our department colleagues in Tuchotice yard. This already traditional meeting complements our friendly collective relationship on more informal basis and brings more open atmosphere within our group.