Polar vortex hidden in twisted bilayers of paraelectric SrTiO<sub>3</sub>.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 39738038.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-024-55328-1 and PMC identifier 11685420.
- Licence recorded as CC BY-NC-ND.
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Abstract
Polar topologies, such as vortex and skyrmion, have attracted significant interest due to their unique physical properties and promising applications in high-density memory devices. To date, all known polar vortices are present in or induced by ferroelectric materials. In this study, we find polar vortex arrays in paraelectric SrTiO<sub>3</sub>. Using multislice electron ptychography, the evolution of vorticity along the vortex axis is revealed in twisted bilayers of SrTiO<sub>3</sub> with deep-sub-angstrom resolution and one picometer accuracy. The surprising finding of polar vortices in a paraelectric crystal opens up opportunities for polarization physics and corresponding new devices.