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Title: Revealing the three-dimensional arrangement of polar topology in nanoparticles

Journal Article · · Nature Communications
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [1];  [1];  [3]; ORCiD logo [4]; ORCiD logo [5]; ORCiD logo [6];  [7]; ORCiD logo [7]; ORCiD logo [8]
  1. Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)
  2. Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon (Korea, Republic of); Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
  3. Korea Basic Science Institute (KBSI), Seoul (Korea, Republic of)
  4. Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), Pohang (Korea, Republic of)
  5. Seoul National University, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)
  6. Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), Pohang (Korea, Republic of); Center for Van der Waals Quantum Solids, Institute for Basic Science (IBS), Pohang (Korea, Republic of)
  7. University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR (United Kingdom)
  8. Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon (Korea, Republic of); Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

In the early 2000s, low dimensional ferroelectric systems were predicted to have topologically nontrivial polar structures, such as vortices or skyrmions, depending on mechanical or electrical boundary conditions. A few variants of these structures have been experimentally observed in thin film model systems, where they are engineered by balancing electrostatic charge and elastic distortion energies. However, the measurement and classification of topological textures for general ferroelectric nanostructures have remained elusive, as it requires mapping the local polarization at the atomic scale in three dimensions. Here we unveil topological polar structures in ferroelectric BaTiO3 nanoparticles via atomic electron tomography, which enables us to reconstruct the full three-dimensional arrangement of cation atoms at an individual atom level. Our three-dimensional polarization maps reveal clear topological orderings, along with evidence of size-dependent topological transitions from a single vortex structure to multiple vortices, consistent with theoretical predictions. The discovery of the predicted topological polar ordering in nanoscale ferroelectrics, independent of epitaxial strain, widens the research perspective and offers potential for practical applications utilizing contact-free switchable toroidal moments.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE; National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF); Office of Naval Research (ONR); Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellowship (VBFF); Army Research Office (ARO)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231
OSTI ID:
2470982
Journal Information:
Nature Communications, Journal Name: Nature Communications Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 15; ISSN 2041-1723
Publisher:
Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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