Atomic imaging of mechanically induced topological transition of ferroelectric vortices

Pan Chen; Xiangli Zhong; Jacob A Zorn; Mingqiang Li; Yuanwei Sun; Adeel Y Abid; Chuanlai Ren; Yuehui Li; Xiaomei Li; Xiumei Ma; Jinbin Wang; Kaihui Liu; Zhi Xu; Congbing Tan; Longqing Chen; Peng Gao; Xuedong Bai

doi:10.1038/s41467-020-15616-y

Atomic imaging of mechanically induced topological transition of ferroelectric vortices

Nat Commun. 2020 Apr 15;11(1):1840. doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-15616-y.

Authors

Pan Chen^#^{1

2}, Xiangli Zhong^#³, Jacob A Zorn⁴, Mingqiang Li^{5

6}, Yuanwei Sun^{5

6}, Adeel Y Abid^{5

6}, Chuanlai Ren³, Yuehui Li^{5

6}, Xiaomei Li¹, Xiumei Ma⁵, Jinbin Wang³, Kaihui Liu^{7

8}, Zhi Xu^{1

2

9}, Congbing Tan¹⁰, Longqing Chen⁴, Peng Gao^{11

12

13}, Xuedong Bai^{14

15

16}

Affiliations

¹ Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China.
² School of Physical Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China.
³ School of Materials Science and Engineering, Xiangtan University, Hunan, Xiangtan, 411105, China.
⁴ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Penn State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA.
⁵ Electron microscopy laboratory, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China.
⁶ International Center for Quantum Materials, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China.
⁷ State Key Laboratory for Artificial Microstructure & Mesoscopic Physics, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China.
⁸ Collaborative Innovation Center of Quantum Matter, Beijing, 100871, China.
⁹ Songshan Lake Materials Laboratory, Dongguan, Guangdong, 523808, China.
¹⁰ Department of Physics and Electronic Science, Hunan University of Science and Technology, Hunan, Xiangtan, 411201, China. cbtan@xtu.edu.cn.
¹¹ Electron microscopy laboratory, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China. p-gao@pku.edu.cn.
¹² International Center for Quantum Materials, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China. p-gao@pku.edu.cn.
¹³ Collaborative Innovation Center of Quantum Matter, Beijing, 100871, China. p-gao@pku.edu.cn.
¹⁴ Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China. xdbai@iphy.ac.cn.
¹⁵ School of Physical Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China. xdbai@iphy.ac.cn.
¹⁶ Songshan Lake Materials Laboratory, Dongguan, Guangdong, 523808, China. xdbai@iphy.ac.cn.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Ferroelectric vortices formed through complex lattice-charge interactions have great potential in applications for future nanoelectronics such as memories. For practical applications, it is crucial to manipulate these topological states under external stimuli. Here, we apply mechanical loads to locally manipulate the vortices in a PbTiO₃/SrTiO₃ superlattice via atomically resolved in-situ scanning transmission electron microscopy. The vortices undergo a transition to the a-domain with in-plane polarization under external compressive stress and spontaneously recover after removal of the stress. We reveal the detailed transition process at the atomic scale and reproduce this numerically using phase-field simulations. These findings provide new pathways to control the exotic topological ferroelectric structures for future nanoelectronics and also valuable insights into understanding of lattice-charge interactions at nanoscale.

Abstract

Grants and funding