Electric field control of chirality

DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abj8030

Authors: Piush Behera (University of California, Berkeley; Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory) , Molly A. May (University of Colorado) , Fernando Gómez-Ortiz (Universidad de Cantabria) , Sandhya Susarla (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory) , Sujit Das (University of California, Berkeley) , Christopher T. Nelson (Oak Ridge National Laboratory) , Lucas Caretta (University of California, Berkeley) , Shang-Lin Hsu (University of California, Berkeley; Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory) , Margaret R. Mccarter (University of California, Berkeley; Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory) , Benjamin H. Savitzky (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory) , Edward S. Barnard (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory) , Archana Raja (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory) , Zijian Hong (Zhejiang University) , Pablo García-Fernandez (Universidad de Cantabria) , Stephen W. Lovesey (Diamond Light Source) , Gerrit Van Der Laan (Diamond Light Source) , Peter Ercius (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory) , Colin Ophus (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory) , Lane W. Martin (University of California, Berkeley; Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory) , Javier Junquera (Universidad de Cantabri) , Markus B. Raschke (University of Colorado) , Ramamoorthy Ramesh (University of California, Berkeley; Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory)
Co-authored by industrial partner: No

Type: Journal Paper
Journal: Science Advances , VOL 8

State: Published (Approved)
Published: January 2022

Abstract: Polar textures have attracted substantial attention in recent years as a promising analog to spin-based textures in ferromagnets. Here, using optical second-harmonic generation–based circular dichroism, we demonstrate deterministic and reversible control of chirality over mesoscale regions in ferroelectric vortices using an applied electric field. The microscopic origins of the chirality, the pathway during the switching, and the mechanism for electric field control are described theoretically via phase-field modeling and second-principles simulations, and experimentally by examination of the microscopic response of the vortices under an applied field. The emergence of chirality from the combination of nonchiral materials and subsequent control of the handedness with an electric field has far-reaching implications for new electronics based on chirality as a field-controllable order parameter.

Diamond Keywords: Ferroelectricity

Subject Areas: Materials, Physics

Facility: National Center for Electron Microscopy at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Added On: 10/01/2022 11:20

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sciadv.abj8030.pdf

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Quantum Materials Physics Materials Science

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