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Ferroelectric translational antiphase boundaries in nonpolar materials

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  • Xian-Kui Wei

    (Ceramics Laboratory, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL)
    Peter Grünberg Institute and Ernst Ruska Center for Microscopy and Spectroscopy with Electrons, Research Center Jülich)

  • Alexander K. Tagantsev

    (Ceramics Laboratory, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL))

  • Alexander Kvasov

    (Ceramics Laboratory, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL))

  • Krystian Roleder

    (Institute of Physics, University of Silesia)

  • Chun-Lin Jia

    (Peter Grünberg Institute and Ernst Ruska Center for Microscopy and Spectroscopy with Electrons, Research Center Jülich
    International Centre of Dielectric Research, The School of Electronic and Information Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University)

  • Nava Setter

    (Ceramics Laboratory, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL))

Abstract

Ferroelectric materials are heavily used in electro-mechanics and electronics. Inside the ferroelectric, domain walls separate regions in which the spontaneous polarization is differently oriented. Properties of ferroelectric domain walls can differ from those of the domains themselves, leading to new exploitable phenomena. Even more exciting is that a non-ferroelectric material may have domain boundaries that are ferroelectric. Many materials possess translational antiphase boundaries. Such boundaries could be interesting entities to carry information if they were ferroelectric. Here we show first that antiphase boundaries in antiferroelectrics may possess ferroelectricity. We then identify these boundaries in the classical antiferroelectric lead zirconate and evidence their polarity by electron microscopy using negative spherical-aberration imaging technique. Ab initio modelling confirms the polar bi-stable nature of the walls. Ferroelectric antiphase boundaries could make high-density non-volatile memory; in comparison with the magnetic domain wall memory, they do not require current for operation and are an order of magnitude thinner.

Suggested Citation

  • Xian-Kui Wei & Alexander K. Tagantsev & Alexander Kvasov & Krystian Roleder & Chun-Lin Jia & Nava Setter, 2014. "Ferroelectric translational antiphase boundaries in nonpolar materials," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 5(1), pages 1-8, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:5:y:2014:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms4031
    DOI: 10.1038/ncomms4031
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    Cited by:

    1. Kun Xu & Ting Lin & Yiheng Rao & Ziqiang Wang & Qinghui Yang & Huaiwu Zhang & Jing Zhu, 2022. "Direct investigation of the atomic structure and decreased magnetism of antiphase boundaries in garnet," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-10, December.

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