Topological Defects with Distinct Dipole Configurations in PbTiO_{3}/SrTiO_{3} Multilayer Films

Lu Lu; Yousra Nahas; Ming Liu; Hongchu Du; Zhijun Jiang; Shengping Ren; Dawei Wang; Lei Jin; Sergei Prokhorenko; Chun-Lin Jia; Laurent Bellaiche

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.120.177601

Topological Defects with Distinct Dipole Configurations in PbTiO_{3}/SrTiO_{3} Multilayer Films

Phys Rev Lett. 2018 Apr 27;120(17):177601. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.120.177601.

Authors

Lu Lu¹, Yousra Nahas², Ming Liu¹, Hongchu Du^{3

4}, Zhijun Jiang^{1

2}, Shengping Ren¹, Dawei Wang¹, Lei Jin³, Sergei Prokhorenko², Chun-Lin Jia^{1

3}, Laurent Bellaiche²

Affiliations

¹ School of Electronic and Information Engineering and State Key Laboratory for Mechanical Behaviour of Materials, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710049, China.
² Physics Department and Institute for Nanoscience and Engineering, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas 72701, USA.
³ Ernst Ruska-Center for Microscopy and Spectroscopy with Electrons, Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, 52425 Jülich, Germany.
⁴ Central Facility for Electron Microscopy (GFE), RWTH Aachen University, 52074 Aachen, Germany.

PMID: 29756809
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.120.177601

Abstract

Distinct and novel features of nanometric electric topological defects, including dipole waves and dipole disclinations, are presently revealed in the PbTiO_{3} layers of PbTiO_{3}/SrTiO_{3} multilayer films by means of quantitative high-resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy. These original dipole configurations are confirmed and explained by atomistic simulations and have the potential to act as functional elements in future electronics.