Atomic Imaging of Mechanically Induced Topological Transition of Ferroelectric Vortices

TL;DR

This study demonstrates how mechanical stress can induce and reverse topological ferroelectric vortex transitions at the atomic scale, providing new insights for nanoelectronic applications.

Contribution

It introduces a method to manipulate ferroelectric vortices using mechanical loads and captures the atomic-scale transition process with both experimental and simulation approaches.

Findings

Vortices transition to in-plane polarized domains under compression.

Vortices spontaneously recover after stress removal.

Atomic-scale transition details are revealed and simulated.

Abstract

Ferroelectric vortices formed through complex lattice-charge interactions have great potential in applications for future nanoelectronics such as memories. For practical applications, it is crucial to manipulate these topological states under external stimuli. Here, we apply mechanical loads to locally manipulate the vortices in a PbTiO3-SrTiO3 superlattice via atomically resolved in situ scanning transmission electron microscopy. The vortices undergo a transition to the a-domain with in-plane polarization under external compressive stress and spontaneously recover after removal of the stress. We reveal the detailed transition process at the atomic scale and reproduce this numerically using phase-field simulations. These findings provide new pathways to control the exotic topological ferroelectric structures for future nanoelectronics and also valuable insights into understanding of lattice-charge interactions at nanoscale.