The board of Directors had the great pleasure of hosting prof. IFM PAN dr. hab. Maria Połomska during the celebration of her 80th birthday. The professor has been associated with our Institute since its inception and worked in the Department of Ferroelectrics for many years. She is an outstanding specialist in the field of Raman spectroscopy. Her research on the phenomenon of ferroelectricity and multiferroicity brought her international fame. Her early work on bismuth ferrate BiFeO3, often called the "Holy Grail" of multiferroics, which predated the 21st century of "multiferroics revolution" by more than two decades, are particularly appreciated.
On the occasion of Professor Połomska’s 80th birthday, we wish the Dignified Jubilarian constant cheer and lots of strength and health.
Professor Maria Połomska already in 1975, together with a group of researchers from the University of Adam Mickiewicz in Poznań, dr. W. Kaczmarek and prof. Z. Pająk, discovered a dielectric anomaly in BiFeO3 occurring at 458 K, the nature of which was explained almost 40 years later [2, 3]. This phenomenon is known today in world literature as the "Polomska transition". Five years later (in 1980), her next pioneering work was published in which, together with researchers from ETH in Zurich and scientists from the University of Warsaw, she reported the discovery of a non-collinear spin system in BiFeO3, which determines the possibility of magnetoelectric coupling [4]. Articles by Professor Maria Połomska are still among the most frequently cited publications of our Institute. The publication [4] was cited almost 900 times (according to Web of Science).
[1] Epitaxial BiFeO3 Multiferroic Thin Film Heterostructures
J. Wang, J. B. Neaton, H. Zheng, V. Nagarajan, S. B. Ogale, B. Liu, D. Viehland, V. Vaithyanathan, D. G. Schlom, U. V. Waghmare, N. A. Spaldin, K. M. Rabe, M. Wuttig and R. Ramesh
Science 299 (5613): 1719–1722
DOI: 10.1126/science.1080615
[2] Electric and magnetic properties of (B1−xLax)FeO3 solid solutions
M. Połomska, W. Kaczmarek and Z. Pająk
Phys. Stat. Solidi A23, 567 (1974)
DOI: 10.1002/pssa.2210230228
[3] Magnon Raman spectroscopy and in-plane dielectric response in BiFeO3: Relation to the Polomska transition
A. Kumar, J. F. Scott, and R. S. Katiyar
Phys. Rev. B 85, 224410 (2012)
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.85.224410
[4] Temperature dependence of the crystal and magnetic structures of BiFeO3
P. Fischer, M. Połomska, I. Sosnowska, M. Szymański
J. Phys. C: Solid State Phys. 13 (1980) 1931-1940
DOI: 10.1088/0022-3719/13/10/012
