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RESEARCH PRODUCT

The Peculiar Physical Properties of Nanosized Ferroics (Nanoferroics)

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This Chapter contains the experimental facts about size effects in nanoferroics. They include ferroelectric, ferroelastic, magnetic and multiferroic nanostructured materials. The main peculiar feature of nanoferroics is the geometric confinement originating from their surfaces and interfaces. This is in contrast to the ordinary bulk ferroics, where the sample surface plays a minor role. In particular, in nanoferroics, the surface generates the physical properties gradients in the normal (to the surface) direction. This fact yields strong size effects and spatial inhomogeneity of the nanoferroics properties, which should be taken into account to get their adequate physical description. We report and analyze an extensive collection of experimental results regarding nanoferroics symmetry, lattice constants, dielectric response, magnetic susceptibility, polarization and hysteresis loops, magnetization and coercive field, heat capacity, soft mode and optical properties.