Direct Imaging of the Spatial and Energy Distribution of Nucleation Centers in Ferroelectric Materials

Journal Article · Tue Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 2008 · Nature Materials

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat2114· OSTI ID:931123

Jesse, Stephen ^[1]; Rodriguez, Brian J ^[1]; Choudhury, S ^[2]; Baddorf, Arthur P ^[1]; Vrejoiu, I. ^[3]; Hesse, D. ^[4]; Alexe, M. ^[3]; Eliseev, E. A. ^[5]; Morozovska, A. N. ^[5]; Zhang, J ^[2]; Chen, L. Q. ^[2]; Kalinin, Sergei V ^[1]

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1. ORNL
2. Pennsylvania State University
3. Max-Planck-Institut fur Mikrostrukturphysik, Germany
4. Max Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics
5. National Academy of Science of Ukraine, Kiev, Ukraine

Macroscopic ferroelectric polarization switching, similar to other first order phase transitions, is controlled by nucleation centers. Despite 50 years of extensive theoretical and experimental effort, the microstructural origins of the Landauer paradox, i.e. the experimentally observed low values of coercive fields in ferroelectrics corresponding to implausibly large nucleation activation energies, are still a mystery. In this letter, we develop an approach to visualize the nucleation centers controlling polarization switching processes with nanometer resolution, determine their spatial and energy distribution, and correlate them to local microstructure. The random bond and random field components of the disorder potential are extracted from positive and negative nucleation biases. Observation of enhanced nucleation activity at the 90 domain wall boundaries and intersections combined with phase-field modeling identifies them as a class of nucleation centers that control switching in structural-defect free materials.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL)
• Sponsoring Organization: SC USDOE - Office of Science (SC); ORNL LDRD Director's R&D
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-00OR22725
• OSTI ID: 931123
• Journal Information: Nature Materials, Journal Name: Nature Materials Journal Issue: 3 Vol. 7
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
ENERGY SPECTRA
FERROELECTRIC MATERIALS
MICROSTRUCTURE
NUCLEATION
Nature Materials Ferroelectric Nucleation
POLARIZATION
SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION
SPATIAL RESOLUTION