Blowing polar skyrmion bubbles in oxide superlattices

Hong, Zijian; Chen, Long-Qing

doi:10.1016/j.actamat.2018.04.022

Title: Blowing polar skyrmion bubbles in oxide superlattices

Journal Article · 12 April 2018 · Acta Materialia

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actamat.2018.04.022 · OSTI ID:1537906

^[1]; Chen, Long-Qing ^[2]

Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park, PA (United States); DOE/OSTI
Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park, PA (United States)

Particle-like topological structures such as skyrmions and vortices have garnered ever-increasing interests due to their rich physical insights and potential broad applications in spintronics. Here, in this work, we discover the reversible switching between polar skyrmion bubbles and ordered vortex arrays in ferroelectric superlattices under an electric field, reminiscent of the Plateau-Raleigh instability in fluid mechanics. An electric field phase diagram is constructed, showing a wide stability window for the observed polar skyrmions. A “volcano”-like pontryagin density distribution is formed, indicating the formation of a smooth circular skyrmion. The topological charge Q at different applied field is calculated, verifying the field-driven topological transition between Q = 0 and Q = ±1 states. This study is a demonstration for the computational design of field-induced topological phase transitions, giving promise for the design of next-generation nanoelectronic devices.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Cite

Export

Save

Research Organization:: Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park, PA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Materials Sciences & Engineering Division (MSE)

Grant/Contract Number:: FG02-07ER46417

OSTI ID:: 1537906

Journal Information:: Acta Materialia, Journal Name: Acta Materialia Journal Issue: C Vol. 152; ISSN 1359-6454

Publisher:: ElsevierCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

References (37)

Topological Structures in Multiferroics - Domain Walls, Skyrmions and Vortices Seidel, Jan; Vasudevan, Rama K.; Valanoor, Nagarajan Advanced Electronic Materials, Vol. 2, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1002/aelm.201500292	journal	December 2015
A unified field theory of mesons and baryons Skyrme, T. H. R. Nuclear Physics, Vol. 31 https://doi.org/10.1016/0029-5582(62)90775-7	journal	March 1962
Applications of semi-implicit Fourier-spectral method to phase field equations Chen, L. Q.; Shen, Jie Computer Physics Communications, Vol. 108, Issue 2-3 https://doi.org/10.1016/S0010-4655(97)00115-X	journal	February 1998
Effect of substrate constraint on the stability and evolution of ferroelectric domain structures in thin films Li, Y. L.; Hu, S. Y.; Liu, Z. K. Acta Materialia, Vol. 50, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1016/S1359-6454(01)00360-3	journal	January 2002
Phase transitions and domain structures of ferroelectric nanoparticles: Phase field model incorporating strong elastic and dielectric inhomogeneity Wang, J. J.; Ma, X. Q.; Li, Q. Acta Materialia, Vol. 61, Issue 20 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actamat.2013.08.055	journal	December 2013
Local 90° switching in Pb(Zr0.2Ti0.8)O3 thin film: Phase-field modeling Hong, Zijian; Britson, Jason; Hu, Jia-Mian Acta Materialia, Vol. 73 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actamat.2014.03.071	journal	July 2014
Stability of Polar Vortex Lattice in Ferroelectric Superlattices Hong, Zijian; Damodaran, Anoop R.; Xue, Fei Nano Letters, Vol. 17, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.6b04875	journal	March 2017
Spontaneous skyrmion ground states in magnetic metals Rößler, U. K.; Bogdanov, A. N.; Pfleiderer, C. Nature, Vol. 442, Issue 7104, p. 797-801 https://doi.org/10.1038/nature05056	journal	August 2006
Real-space observation of a two-dimensional skyrmion crystal Yu, X. Z.; Onose, Y.; Kanazawa, N. Nature, Vol. 465, Issue 7300 https://doi.org/10.1038/nature09124	journal	June 2010
Observation of polar vortices in oxide superlattices Yadav, A. K.; Nelson, C. T.; Hsu, S. L. Nature, Vol. 530, Issue 7589 https://doi.org/10.1038/nature16463	journal	January 2016
A reversible conversion between a skyrmion and a domain-wall pair in a junction geometry Zhou, Yan; Ezawa, Motohiko Nature Communications, Vol. 5, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms5652	journal	August 2014
Discovery of stable skyrmionic state in ferroelectric nanocomposites Nahas, Y.; Prokhorenko, S.; Louis, L. Nature Communications, Vol. 6, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms9542	journal	October 2015
Néel-type skyrmion lattice with confined orientation in the polar magnetic semiconductor GaV4S8 Kézsmárki, I.; Bordács, S.; Milde, P. Nature Materials, Vol. 14, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat4402	journal	September 2015
Topological properties and dynamics of magnetic skyrmions Nagaosa, Naoto; Tokura, Yoshinori Nature Nanotechnology, Vol. 8, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2013.243	journal	December 2013
X-ray imaging of the dynamic magnetic vortex core deformation Vansteenkiste, A.; Chou, K. W.; Weigand, M. Nature Physics, Vol. 5, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys1231	journal	March 2009
Vortex Domain Structure in Ferroelectric Nanoplatelets and Control of its Transformation by Mechanical Load Chen, W. J.; Zheng, Yue; Wang, Biao Scientific Reports, Vol. 2, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1038/srep00796	journal	November 2012
Effect of electrical boundary conditions on ferroelectric domain structures in thin films Li, Y. L.; Hu, S. Y.; Liu, Z. K. Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 81, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1492025	journal	July 2002
Thermodynamic theory of PbTiO ₃ Haun, M. J.; Furman, E.; Jang, S. J. Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 62, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.339293	journal	October 1987
A modified Landau–Devonshire thermodynamic potential for strontium titanate Sheng, G.; Li, Y. L.; Zhang, J. X. Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 96, Issue 23 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3442915	journal	June 2010
Hydrodynamics of domain walls in ferroelectrics and multiferroics: Impact on memory devices Scott, J. F.; Evans, D. M.; Gregg, J. M. Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 109, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4959996	journal	July 2016
Skyrmion model of nano-domain nucleation in ferroelectrics and ferromagnets Dawber, M.; Gruverman, A.; Scott, J. F. Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter, Vol. 18, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1088/0953-8984/18/5/L03	journal	January 2006
Magnetic vortex resonance in patterned ferromagnetic dots Novosad, V.; Fradin, F. Y.; Roy, P. E. Physical Review B, Vol. 72, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.72.024455	journal	July 2005
Role of the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction in multiferroic perovskites Sergienko, I. A.; Dagotto, E. Physical Review B, Vol. 73, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.73.094434	journal	March 2006
Ultrafast dynamics of a magnetic antivortex: Micromagnetic simulations Gliga, Sebastian; Yan, Ming; Hertel, Riccardo Physical Review B, Vol. 77, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.77.060404	journal	February 2008
Vortex-antivortex annihilation dynamics in a square mesoscopic superconducting cylinder Sardella, Edson; Lisboa Filho, Paulo Noronha; de Souza Silva, Clécio C. Physical Review B, Vol. 80, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.80.012506	journal	July 2009
Skyrmion confinement in ultrathin film nanostructures in the presence of Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction Rohart, S.; Thiaville, A. Physical Review B, Vol. 88, Issue 18 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.88.184422	journal	November 2013
Dimensionality Crossover in Magnetism: From Domain Walls (2D) to Vortices (1D) Masseboeuf, A.; Fruchart, O.; Toussaint, J. C. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 104, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.104.127204	journal	March 2010
Giant Skyrmions Stabilized by Dipole-Dipole Interactions in Thin Ferromagnetic Films Ezawa, Motohiko Physical Review Letters, Vol. 105, Issue 19 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.105.197202	journal	November 2010
Extended Skyrmion Phase in Epitaxial FeGe ( 111 ) Thin Films Huang, S. X.; Chien, C. L. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 108, Issue 26 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.108.267201	journal	June 2012
Magnetic Vortex Core Dynamics in Cylindrical Ferromagnetic Dots Guslienko, K. Yu.; Han, X. F.; Keavney, D. J. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 96, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.96.067205	journal	February 2006
Controlling Toroidal Moment by Means of an Inhomogeneous Static Field: An Ab Initio Study Prosandeev, S.; Ponomareva, I.; Kornev, I. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 96, Issue 23 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.96.237601	journal	June 2006
Exchange Explosions: Magnetization Dynamics during Vortex-Antivortex Annihilation Hertel, Riccardo; Schneider, Claus M. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 97, Issue 17 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.97.177202	journal	October 2006
Phase-Field Method of Phase Transitions/Domain Structures in Ferroelectric Thin Films: A Review Chen, Long-Qing Journal of the American Ceramic Society, Vol. 91, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1551-2916.2008.02413.x	journal	June 2008
Skyrmion Lattice in a Chiral Magnet Muhlbauer, S.; Binz, B.; Jonietz, F. Science, Vol. 323, Issue 5916 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1166767	journal	February 2009
Observation of a periodic array of flux-closure quadrants in strained ferroelectric PbTiO3 films Tang, Y. L.; Zhu, Y. L.; Ma, X. L. Science, Vol. 348, Issue 6234 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1259869	journal	April 2015
Magnetic Vortex Core Observation in Circular Dots of Permalloy Shinjo, T. Science, Vol. 289, Issue 5481 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.289.5481.930	journal	August 2000
Blowing magnetic skyrmion bubbles Jiang, W.; Upadhyaya, P.; Zhang, W. Science, Vol. 349, Issue 6245 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaa1442	journal	June 2015

Cited By (1)

Manipulating topological transformations of polar structures through real-time observation of the dynamic polarization evolution Du, K.; Zhang, M.; Dai, C. Nature Communications, Vol. 10, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-12864-5	journal	October 2019

Similar Records

Local negative permittivity and topological phase transition in polar skyrmions

Journal Article · 2020 · Nature Materials · OSTI ID:1785717

Das, S.; Hong, Z.; Stoica, V. A.; +27 more

Switchable polar spirals in tricolor oxide superlattices

Journal Article · 2019 · Acta Materialia · OSTI ID:1609863

Hong, Zijian; Chen, Long-Qing

Strain effects on stability of topological ferroelectric polar configurations in (PbTiO3) n /(SrTiO3) n superlattices

Journal Article · 2023 · Applied Physics Letters · OSTI ID:2420175

Dai, Cheng; Hong, Zijian; Das, Sujit; +4 more

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
Ferroelectric superlattices
Materials science
Metallurgy & metallurgical engineering
Phase-field simulations
Polar skyrmion
Topological phase transition

Title: Blowing polar skyrmion bubbles in oxide superlattices

Citation Formats

References (37)

Cited By (1)

Similar Records

Related Subjects