Manipulating topological transformations of polar structures through real-time observation of the dynamic polarization evolution.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 31653843.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-019-12864-5 and PMC identifier 6814840.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Topological structures based on controllable ferroelectric or ferromagnetic domain configurations offer the opportunity to develop microelectronic devices such as high-density memories. Despite the increasing experimental and theoretical insights into various domain structures (such as polar spirals, polar wave, polar vortex) over the past decade, manipulating the topological transformations of polar structures and comprehensively understanding its underlying mechanism remains lacking. By conducting an in-situ non-contact bias technique, here we systematically investigate the real-time topological transformations of polar structures in PbTiO<sub>3</sub>/SrTiO<sub>3</sub> multilayers at an atomic level. The procedure of vortex pair splitting and the transformation from polar vortex to polar wave and out-of-plane polarization are observed step by step. Furthermore, the redistribution of charge in various topological structures has been demonstrated under an external bias. This provides new insights for the symbiosis of polar and charge and offers an opportunity for a new generation of microelectronic devices.