The joint meeting of the 13th Russia/CIS/Baltic/Japan Symposium on Ferroelectricity (RCBJSF) and International Workshop on Relaxor Ferroelectrics 2016 (IWRF) was successfully held on 19–23 June 2016, at Matsue, Japan. This joint RCBJSF-IWRF 2016 conference consisted of scientific presentations and discussions covering a broad range of topics associated with ferroelectricity. The main objectives of this conference were to provide a unique opportunity to discuss latest progress in many aspects of ferroelectrics and to help promote this field. The conference venue was in the capital city of Shimane prefecture, which is situated on the historical region and hosted 179 participants from 17 countries.
Yukikuni Akishige
Shimane University, Japan
Alexander S. Sigov
Moscow State University of Information Technologies, Russia
Kenji Ohwada
Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute, Japan
March 2017
Russia/CIS/Baltic/Japan Symposium on Ferroelectricity (RCBJSF)
The first RCBJSF symposium was held in Novosibirsk in 1976 under the joint efforts of the honorable Nobel Prize winner professor Prokhorov (Russia) and professor Kobayashi (Japan). Since that time, RCBJSF symposia were continuously held in Kyoto (1980), Novosibirsk (1984), Tsukuba (1988), Moscow (1994), Noda (1998), St Petersburg (2002), Tsukuba (2006), Vilnius (2008), Yokohama (2010), Ekaterinburg (2012), and Riga (2014), providing numerous dynamic discussion and the first-hand updates on the “hottest” aspects on ferroelectricity. As a result of these events, multilateral cooperation has been established among the Japanese, Russian, CIS and Baltic scientists. In keeping the scientific spirits of the previous symposia, the 13th Russia/CIS/Baltic/Japan Symposium, the 40th anniversary of this conference, acts to enhance the existing platform and create new channels for more interactions, engagements and collaborations among all participants. The recent two conferences were in collaboration with other international conferences, i.e. RCBJSF is now open to the world and developing by the year.
Yukikuni Akishige
Alexander S. Sigov
Chairpersons of RCBJSF
International Workshop on Relaxor Ferroelectrics (IWRF)
The IWRF series of meetings can trace its origin into international seminars on relaxor ferroelectrics initiated by Prof. Shuvalov from the Russian Academy of Sciences, which were held in 1996, 1998 and 2000 in Dubna, Russia. Although the seminar was not continued after 2000, recent positive and useful developments in relaxor ferroelectrics suggest a need for an international forum on relaxor ferroelectrics to facilitate the communication, exchange and collaboration among researchers working in the fields of relaxor ferroelectrics, ferroelectrics and materials science. Three ad hoc meetings were recently organized in three consecutive years; the International Workshop on Structure–Property Relations in Relaxor Ferroelectrics held in Xi'an, China, 2011; the Workshop on Relaxor Ferroelectrics held in Schloss Edesheim, Germany, 2012; and the International Workshop on Relaxor Ferroelectrics, held in St. Petersburg, Russia, 2013. At the IWRF in St. Petersburg, an international advisory board (IAB) was established, and it was decided to start a regular IWRF conference series with a format of a biennial chain of focused workshops. The newly organized IWRF was first held in Štiřín, Czech Republic, 2014. We believe that the IWRF series will continue to be an ideal platform for the community of researchers in the field of relaxor ferroelectrics, ferroelectrics and materials science.
Kenji Ohwada
Chairperson of IWRF