Speaker:  Dr. Ruijuan Xu, Department of Applied Physics, Stanford University Title:  Controlling ferroelectricity at the nanoscale: from oxide heterostructures to freestanding crystalline membranes Abstract Complex oxides are fascinating material systems exhibiting a diverse set of electrical, magnetic, and thermal properties. In particular, ferroelectric oxides with an electrically switchable polarization and large dielectric and piezoelectric responses are considered as critical components for next-generation low-power logic devices, non-volatile memories, and nanoscale sensors and actuators, etc. Recent advances in thin-film synthesis techniques including the…