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Observation of room-temperature polar skyrmions

Author

Listed:
  • S. Das

    (University of California)

  • Y. L. Tang

    (University of California
    Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory)

  • Z. Hong

    (The Pennsylvania State University)

  • M. A. P. Gonçalves

    (Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST))

  • M. R. McCarter

    (University of California)

  • C. Klewe

    (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory)

  • K. X. Nguyen

    (Cornell University)

  • F. Gómez-Ortiz

    (Universidad de Cantabria)

  • P. Shafer

    (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory)

  • E. Arenholz

    (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory)

  • V. A. Stoica

    (Pennsylvania State University)

  • S.-L. Hsu

    (University of California
    Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory)

  • B. Wang

    (The Pennsylvania State University)

  • C. Ophus

    (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory)

  • J. F. Liu

    (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory)

  • C. T. Nelson

    (Oak Ridge National Laboratory)

  • S. Saremi

    (University of California)

  • B. Prasad

    (University of California)

  • A. B. Mei

    (Cornell University)

  • D. G. Schlom

    (Cornell University
    Kavli Institute at Cornell for Nanoscale Science)

  • J. Íñiguez

    (Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST)
    University of Luxembourg)

  • P. García-Fernández

    (Universidad de Cantabria)

  • D. A. Muller

    (Kavli Institute at Cornell for Nanoscale Science
    Cornell University)

  • L. Q. Chen

    (The Pennsylvania State University)

  • J. Junquera

    (Universidad de Cantabria)

  • L. W. Martin

    (University of California
    Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory)

  • R. Ramesh

    (University of California
    Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
    University of California)

Abstract

Complex topological configurations are fertile ground for exploring emergent phenomena and exotic phases in condensed-matter physics. For example, the recent discovery of polarization vortices and their associated complex-phase coexistence and response under applied electric fields in superlattices of (PbTiO3)n/(SrTiO3)n suggests the presence of a complex, multi-dimensional system capable of interesting physical responses, such as chirality, negative capacitance and large piezo-electric responses1–3. Here, by varying epitaxial constraints, we discover room-temperature polar-skyrmion bubbles in a lead titanate layer confined by strontium titanate layers, which are imaged by atomic-resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy. Phase-field modelling and second-principles calculations reveal that the polar-skyrmion bubbles have a skyrmion number of +1, and resonant soft-X-ray diffraction experiments show circular dichroism, confirming chirality. Such nanometre-scale polar-skyrmion bubbles are the electric analogues of magnetic skyrmions, and could contribute to the advancement of ferroelectrics towards functionalities incorporating emergent chirality and electrically controllable negative capacitance.

Suggested Citation

  • S. Das & Y. L. Tang & Z. Hong & M. A. P. Gonçalves & M. R. McCarter & C. Klewe & K. X. Nguyen & F. Gómez-Ortiz & P. Shafer & E. Arenholz & V. A. Stoica & S.-L. Hsu & B. Wang & C. Ophus & J. F. Liu & C, 2019. "Observation of room-temperature polar skyrmions," Nature, Nature, vol. 568(7752), pages 368-372, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:568:y:2019:i:7752:d:10.1038_s41586-019-1092-8
    DOI: 10.1038/s41586-019-1092-8
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    Cited by:

    1. Guangxiu Liu & Maocai Pi & Long Zhou & Zhehong Liu & Xudong Shen & Xubin Ye & Shijun Qin & Xinrun Mi & Xue Chen & Lin Zhao & Bowen Zhou & Jia Guo & Xiaohui Yu & Yisheng Chai & Hongming Weng & Youwen L, 2022. "Physical realization of topological Roman surface by spin-induced ferroelectric polarization in cubic lattice," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-8, December.
    2. Sixu Wang & Wei Li & Chenguang Deng & Zijian Hong & Han-Bin Gao & Xiaolong Li & Yueliang Gu & Qiang Zheng & Yongjun Wu & Paul G. Evans & Jing-Feng Li & Ce-Wen Nan & Qian Li, 2024. "Giant electric field-induced second harmonic generation in polar skyrmions," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-10, December.
    3. Longju Yu & Hong Jian Zhao & Peng Chen & Laurent Bellaiche & Yanming Ma, 2023. "The anti-symmetric and anisotropic symmetric exchange interactions between electric dipoles in hafnia," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-9, December.
    4. Guangdi Feng & Qiuxiang Zhu & Xuefeng Liu & Luqiu Chen & Xiaoming Zhao & Jianquan Liu & Shaobing Xiong & Kexiang Shan & Zhenzhong Yang & Qinye Bao & Fangyu Yue & Hui Peng & Rong Huang & Xiaodong Tang , 2024. "A ferroelectric fin diode for robust non-volatile memory," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-11, December.
    5. S. Prokhorenko & Y. Nahas & V. Govinden & Q. Zhang & N. Valanoor & L. Bellaiche, 2024. "Motion and teleportation of polar bubbles in low-dimensional ferroelectrics," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-10, December.
    6. Sandhya Susarla & Pablo García-Fernández & Colin Ophus & Sujit Das & Pablo Aguado-Puente & Margaret McCarter & Peter Ercius & Lane W. Martin & Ramamoorthy Ramesh & Javier Junquera, 2021. "Atomic scale crystal field mapping of polar vortices in oxide superlattices," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-7, December.
    7. Vivasha Govinden & Peiran Tong & Xiangwei Guo & Qi Zhang & Sukriti Mantri & Mohammad Moein Seyfouri & Sergei Prokhorenko & Yousra Nahas & Yongjun Wu & Laurent Bellaiche & Tulai Sun & He Tian & Zijian , 2023. "Ferroelectric solitons crafted in epitaxial bismuth ferrite superlattices," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-10, December.
    8. Feng-Hui Gong & Yun-Long Tang & Yu-Jia Wang & Yu-Ting Chen & Bo Wu & Li-Xin Yang & Yin-Lian Zhu & Xiu-Liang Ma, 2023. "Absence of critical thickness for polar skyrmions with breaking the Kittel’s law," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-9, December.
    9. Daniel Bennett & Gaurav Chaudhary & Robert-Jan Slager & Eric Bousquet & Philippe Ghosez, 2023. "Polar meron-antimeron networks in strained and twisted bilayers," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-7, December.
    10. Mingqiang Li & Tiannan Yang & Pan Chen & Yongjun Wang & Ruixue Zhu & Xiaomei Li & Ruochen Shi & Heng-Jui Liu & Yen-Lin Huang & Xiumei Ma & Jingmin Zhang & Xuedong Bai & Long-Qing Chen & Ying-Hao Chu &, 2022. "Electric-field control of the nucleation and motion of isolated three-fold polar vertices," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-8, December.
    11. Kook Tae Kim & Margaret R. McCarter & Vladimir A. Stoica & Sujit Das & Christoph Klewe & Elizabeth P. Donoway & David M. Burn & Padraic Shafer & Fanny Rodolakis & Mauro A. P. Gonçalves & Fernando Góme, 2022. "Chiral structures of electric polarization vectors quantified by X-ray resonant scattering," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-10, December.
    12. Mengfan Guo & Erxiang Xu & Houbing Huang & Changqing Guo & Hetian Chen & Shulin Chen & Shan He & Le Zhou & Jing Ma & Zhonghui Shen & Ben Xu & Di Yi & Peng Gao & Ce-Wen Nan & Neil. D. Mathur & Yang She, 2024. "Electrically and mechanically driven rotation of polar spirals in a relaxor ferroelectric polymer," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-9, December.
    13. Jing Wang & Deshan Liang & Jing Ma & Yuanyuan Fan & Ji Ma & Hasnain Mehdi Jafri & Huayu Yang & Qinghua Zhang & Yue Wang & Changqing Guo & Shouzhe Dong & Di Liu & Xueyun Wang & Jiawang Hong & Nan Zhang, 2023. "Polar Solomon rings in ferroelectric nanocrystals," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-9, December.
    14. Wei Luo & Alireza Akbarzadeh & Yousra Nahas & Sergei Prokhorenko & Laurent Bellaiche, 2023. "Quantum criticality at cryogenic melting of polar bubble lattices," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-8, December.
    15. Sandhya Susarla & Shanglin Hsu & Fernando Gómez-Ortiz & Pablo García-Fernández & Benjamin H. Savitzky & Sujit Das & Piush Behera & Javier Junquera & Peter Ercius & Ramamoorthy Ramesh & Colin Ophus, 2023. "The emergence of three-dimensional chiral domain walls in polar vortices," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-7, December.
    16. Peter Meisenheimer & Hongrui Zhang & David Raftrey & Xiang Chen & Yu-Tsun Shao & Ying-Ting Chan & Reed Yalisove & Rui Chen & Jie Yao & Mary C. Scott & Weida Wu & David A. Muller & Peter Fischer & Robe, 2023. "Ordering of room-temperature magnetic skyrmions in a polar van der Waals magnet," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-9, December.
    17. Yu-Tsun Shao & Sujit Das & Zijian Hong & Ruijuan Xu & Swathi Chandrika & Fernando Gómez-Ortiz & Pablo García-Fernández & Long-Qing Chen & Harold Y. Hwang & Javier Junquera & Lane W. Martin & Ramamoort, 2023. "Emergent chirality in a polar meron to skyrmion phase transition," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-9, December.

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