  The alkaline earth binary oxides adopt a simple rocksalt structure and form
an important family of compounds because of their large presence in the earth's
mantle and their potential use in microelectronic devices. In comparison to the
class of multifunctional ferroelectric perovskite oxides, however, their
practical applications remain limited and the emergence of ferroelectricity and
related functional properties in simple binary oxides seems so unlikely that it
was never previously considered. Here, we show using first-principles density
functional calculations that ferroelectricity can be easily induced in simple
alkaline earth binary oxides such as barium oxide (BaO) using appropriate
epitaxial strains. Going beyond the fundamental discovery, we show that the
functional properties (polarization, dielectric constant and piezoelectric
response) of such strained binary oxides are comparable in magnitude to those
of typical ferroelectric perovskite oxides, so making them of direct interest
for applications. Finally, we show that magnetic binary oxides such as EuO,
with the same rocksalt structure, behave similarly to the alkaline earth
oxides, suggesting a route to new multiferroics combining ferroelectric and
magnetic properties.
