The need of electron microscopy in the study of domains and domain walls in ferroelectrics

Author(s):  
Wenwu Cao

Domain structures play a key role in determining the physical properties of ferroelectric materials. The formation of these ferroelectric domains and domain walls are determined by the intrinsic nonlinearity and the nonlocal coupling of the polarization. Analogous to soliton excitations, domain walls can have high mobility when the domain wall energy is high. The domain wall can be describes by a continuum theory owning to the long range nature of the dipole-dipole interactions in ferroelectrics. The simplest form for the Landau energy is the so called ϕ model which can be used to describe a second order phase transition from a cubic prototype,where Pi (i =1, 2, 3) are the components of polarization vector, α's are the linear and nonlinear dielectric constants. In order to take into account the nonlocal coupling, a gradient energy should be included, for cubic symmetry the gradient energy is given by,


2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rubén M. Otxoa ◽  
P. E. Roy ◽  
R. Rama-Eiroa ◽  
J. Godinho ◽  
K. Y. Guslienko ◽  
...  

Abstract Within linear continuum theory, no magnetic texture can propagate faster than the maximum group velocity of the spin waves. Here, by atomistic spin dynamics simulations and supported by analytical theory, we report that a strongly non-linear transient regime due to the appearance of additional magnetic textures results in the breaking of the Lorentz translational invariance. This dynamical regime is akin to domain wall Walker-breakdown in ferromagnets and involves the nucleation of an antiferromagnetic domain wall pair. While one of the nucleated domain walls is accelerated beyond the magnonic limit, the remaining pair remains static. Under large spin–orbit fields, a cascade of multiple generation and recombination of domain walls are obtained. This result may clarify recent experiments on current pulse induced shattering of large domain structures into small fragmented domains and the subsequent slow recreation of large-scale domains.



1999 ◽  
Vol 574 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. M. Eng

AbstractThe increasing interest in scanning probe instruments (SPM) stems from the outstanding possibilities in measuring electric, magnetic, optical, and structural properties of surfaces and surface layers down to the molecular and atomic scale. For the inspection of ferroelectric materials both the scanning force microscope (SFM) and the scanning near-field optical microscope (SNOM) are promising techniques revealing information on the polarization vector and the electric field induced stress within a crystal. Polarization sensitive modes are discussed as is friction force microscopy, dynamic force microscopy (DFM) and voltage modulated SFM. From these measurements, 180° domain walls (c-domains) are resolved down to 4 nm, while 3-dimensional polarization mapping in ferroelectric BaTiO3 ceramics reveals a 25 nm resolution. On the other hand, non-contact DFM measurements in ultra-high vacuum are able to resolve ferroelectric surfaces down to the atomic scale. Then also the chemical heterogeneity at the sample surface is differentiated from ferroelectric domains down to a 5 nm lateral resolution, taking advantage of the short range chemical forces. SNOM in contrast probes the optical properties of ferroelectric crystals both in transmission and reflection. Here image contrast arises from changes in the refractive index between different domains as well as at domain walls. In addition, SPM instruments are used for the local modification of ferroic samples by applying a relatively high voltage pulse to the SPM tip. Domains with diameters down to 30 nm are thus created with the size depending on both the switching and material parameters.



Author(s):  
Wen Dong ◽  
David Pisani ◽  
Christopher S. Lynch

Discrete phase modeling utilizes a finite element framework with a Landau-Devonshire type multi-well potential as a material subroutine to model domain evolution in ferroelectrics. The time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau equation with polarization as an order parameter governs evolution of polarization. In the discrete phase method, the domain wall width is not controlled by an adjustable parameter, the gradient energy term used in phase field models; rather, it is controlled by a balance between mechanical, structural, and electrostatic contributions to the free energy. The effect of this energy balance on the resulting domain wall width of 90° and 180° tetragonal domain walls is discussed and examples are presented.



1986 ◽  
Vol 82 ◽  
Author(s):  
O. Boser ◽  
D. N. Beshers

ABSTRACTDopants in ferroelectric materials affect the dielectric constant and the shape of the hysteresis loop. To understand and quantify these effects it is necessary to calculate the interaction between dopant and domain wall. In the following the dopant ion is modelled as an elastic dipole. The stresses surrounding a 180° domain wall are calculated in analogy to calculations in the magnetic case for Bloch walls. It is assumed that electrostrictive effects control the strains and that the spontaneous polarization does not rotate but decreases to zero at the center of the domain wall and increases in the opposite direction on the other side of the domain wall. The calculations are made assumingisotropic elastic constants. It is found that only elastic dipoles oriented in the planeof the domain wall interact with it. The interaction forces as a function of perpendicular distance between wall and dipole show an antisymmetric characteristic.



Author(s):  
J.N. Chapman ◽  
P.E. Batson ◽  
E.M. Waddell ◽  
R.P. Ferrier

By far the most commonly used mode of Lorentz microscopy in the examination of ferromagnetic thin films is the Fresnel or defocus mode. Use of this mode in the conventional transmission electron microscope (CTEM) is straightforward and immediately reveals the existence of all domain walls present. However, if such quantitative information as the domain wall profile is required, the technique suffers from several disadvantages. These include the inability to directly observe fine image detail on the viewing screen because of the stringent illumination coherence requirements, the difficulty of accurately translating part of a photographic plate into quantitative electron intensity data, and, perhaps most severe, the difficulty of interpreting this data. One solution to the first-named problem is to use a CTEM equipped with a field emission gun (FEG) (Inoue, Harada and Yamamoto 1977) whilst a second is to use the equivalent mode of image formation in a scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM) (Chapman, Batson, Waddell, Ferrier and Craven 1977), a technique which largely overcomes the second-named problem as well.



2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Ghara ◽  
K. Geirhos ◽  
L. Kuerten ◽  
P. Lunkenheimer ◽  
V. Tsurkan ◽  
...  

AbstractAtomically sharp domain walls in ferroelectrics are considered as an ideal platform to realize easy-to-reconfigure nanoelectronic building blocks, created, manipulated and erased by external fields. However, conductive domain walls have been exclusively observed in oxides, where domain wall mobility and conductivity is largely influenced by stoichiometry and defects. Here, we report on giant conductivity of domain walls in the non-oxide ferroelectric GaV4S8. We observe conductive domain walls forming in zig-zagging structures, that are composed of head-to-head and tail-to-tail domain wall segments alternating on the nanoscale. Remarkably, both types of segments possess high conductivity, unimaginable in oxide ferroelectrics. These effectively 2D domain walls, dominating the 3D conductance, can be mobilized by magnetic fields, triggering abrupt conductance changes as large as eight orders of magnitude. These unique properties demonstrate that non-oxide ferroelectrics can be the source of novel phenomena beyond the realm of oxide electronics.



2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Łukasz Frąckowiak ◽  
Feliks Stobiecki ◽  
Gabriel David Chaves-O’Flynn ◽  
Maciej Urbaniak ◽  
Marek Schmidt ◽  
...  

AbstractRecent results showed that the ferrimagnetic compensation point and other characteristic features of Tb/Co ferrimagnetic multilayers can be tailored by He+ ion bombardment. With appropriate choices of the He+ ion dose, we prepared two types of lattices composed of squares with either Tb or Co domination. The magnetization reversal of the first lattice is similar to that seen in ferromagnetic heterostructures consisting of areas with different switching fields. However, in the second lattice, the creation of domains without accompanying domain walls is possible. These domain patterns are particularly stable because they simultaneously lower the demagnetizing energy and the energy associated with the presence of domain walls (exchange and anisotropy). For both lattices, studies of magnetization reversal show that this process takes place by the propagation of the domain walls. If they are not present at the onset, the reversal starts from the nucleation of reversed domains and it is followed by domain wall propagation. The magnetization reversal process does not depend significantly on the relative sign of the effective magnetization in areas separated by domain walls.



2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Diego Delmastro ◽  
Jaume Gomis

Abstract 4d$$ \mathcal{N} $$ N = 1 super Yang-Mills (SYM) with simply connected gauge group G has h gapped vacua arising from the spontaneously broken discrete R-symmetry, where h is the dual Coxeter number of G. Therefore, the theory admits stable domain walls interpolating between any two vacua, but it is a nonperturbative problem to determine the low energy theory on the domain wall. We put forward an explicit answer to this question for all the domain walls for G = SU(N), Sp(N), Spin(N) and G2, and for the minimal domain wall connecting neighboring vacua for arbitrary G. We propose that the domain wall theories support specific nontrivial topological quantum field theories (TQFTs), which include the Chern-Simons theory proposed long ago by Acharya-Vafa for SU(N). We provide nontrivial evidence for our proposals by exactly matching renormalization group invariant partition functions twisted by global symmetries of SYM computed in the ultraviolet with those computed in our proposed infrared TQFTs. A crucial element in this matching is constructing the Hilbert space of spin TQFTs, that is, theories that depend on the spin structure of spacetime and admit fermionic states — a subject we delve into in some detail.





2015 ◽  
Vol 233-234 ◽  
pp. 55-59
Author(s):  
Marina Kirman ◽  
Artem Talantsev ◽  
Roman Morgunov

The magnetization dynamics of metal-organic crystals has been studied in low frequency AC magnetic field. Four modes of domain wall motion (Debye relaxation, creep, slide and over - barrier motion (switching)) were distinguished in [MnII(H(R/S)-pn)(H2O)] [MnIII(CN)6]⋅2H2O crystals. Debye relaxation and creep of the domain walls are sensitive to Peierls relief configuration controlled by crystal lattice chirality. Structural defects and periodical Peierls potential compete in the damping of the domain walls. Driving factor of this competition is ratio of the domain wall width to the crystal lattice parameter.



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