Ferroelectric incommensurate spin crystals

Rusu, Dorin; Peters, Jonathan J. P.; Hase, Thomas P. A.; Gott, James A.; Nisbet, Gareth A. A.; Strempfer, Jörg; Haskel, Daniel; Seddon, Samuel D.; Beanland, Richard; Sanchez, Ana M.; Alexe, Marin

doi:10.1038/s41586-021-04260-1

Title: Ferroelectric incommensurate spin crystals

Journal Article · 09 February 2022 · Nature (London)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-04260-1 · OSTI ID:1897900

Rusu, Dorin ^[1]; Peters, Jonathan J. P. ^[2];

^[1];

^[3];

^[4]; Haskel, Daniel ^[4];

^[1];

^[1]

Univ. of Warwick, Coventry (United Kingdom)
Univ. of Warwick, Coventry (United Kingdom); Trinity College Dublin (Ireland)
Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), Oxford (United Kingdom). Diamond Light Source, Ltd.
Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Lemont, IL (United States)

Ferroics, especially ferromagnets, can form complextopological spin structures such as vortices and skyrmions when subjected to particular electrical and mechanical boundary conditions. Simple vortex-like, electric-dipole-based topological structures have been observed in dedicated ferroelectric systems, especially ferroelectric-insulator superlattices such as PbTiO₃/SrTiO₃, which was later shown to be a model system owing to its high depolarizing field. To date, the electric dipole equivalent of ordered magnetic spin lattices driven by the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMi) has not been experimentally observed. Here we examine a domain structure in a single PbTiO₃ epitaxial layer sandwiched between SrRuO₃ electrodes. In this work, we observe periodic clockwise and anticlockwise ferroelectric vortices that are modulated by a second ordering along their toroidal core. The resulting topology, supported by calculations, is a labyrinth-like pattern with two orthogonal periodic modulations that form an incommensurate polar crystal that provides a ferroelectric analogue to the recently discovered incommensurate spin crystals in ferromagnetic materials. These findings further blur the border between emergent ferromagnetic and ferroelectrictopologies, clearing the way for experimental realization of further electric counterparts of magnetic DMi-driven phases.

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Research Organization:: Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States). Advanced Photon Source (APS)

Sponsoring Organization:: Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC); Royal Society

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-06CH11357

OSTI ID:: 1897900

Journal Information:: Nature (London), Journal Name: Nature (London) Journal Issue: 7896 Vol. 602; ISSN 0028-0836

Publisher:: Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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