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Non-Ising domain walls in c-phase ferroelectric lead titanate thin films

Christian Weymann1, Salia Cherifi-Hertel2, Céline Lichtensteiger1, Iaroslav Gaponenko1, Kokou Dodzi Dorkenoo2, Aaron B. Naden3, and Patrycja Paruch1

  • 1Department of Quantum Matter Physics, University of Geneva, 24 Quai Ernest-Ansermet, CH-1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland
  • 2Université de Strasbourg, CNRS, Institut de Physique et Chimie des Matériaux de Strasbourg, UMR 7504, 67000 Strasbourg, France
  • 3School of Chemistry, University of St. Andrews, St. Andrews, KY16 9ST, United Kingdom

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Phys. Rev. B 106, L241404 – Published 20 December, 2022

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.106.L241404

Abstract

Ferroelectrics are technologically important, with wide application in micromechanical systems, nonlinear optics, and information storage. Recent discoveries of exotic polarization textures in these materials, which can strongly influence their properties, have brought to the forefront questions about the nature of their domain walls: long believed to be primarily Ising, with locally null polarization. Here, combining three complementary techniques—second-harmonic generation microscopy, piezoresponse force microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy—to cover all the relevant length scales, we reveal the Néel character (non-Ising polarization oriented perpendicular to the wall) of 180∘ domain walls in c-phase tetragonal ferroelectric lead titanate epitaxial thin films, for both artificial and intrinsic domains at room temperature. Furthermore, we show that variations in the domain density—detected both optically and via local piezoresponse and then quantified by radial autocorrelation analysis—can give us insight into the underlying defect potential present in these materials.

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Phys. Rev. B 106, L241404– Published 20 December, 2022
  • Received 5 September 2022
  • Revised 11 November 2022
  • Accepted 28 November 2022
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