Landau-Ginzburg-Devonshire theory of the chiral phase transition in 180° domain walls of PbTiO<sub>3</sub>

Author(s)
I. Rychetsky, W. Schranz, A. Tröster
Abstract

A new mechanism leading to a switchable Bloch-type polarization in a domain wall separating two ferroelectric domain states is proposed. A biquadratic coupling of the primary order parameter and its gradient originating
from inhomogeneous electrostriction triggers the chiral phase transition (Ising-to-Bloch) in the domain walls (DW) with softening of the local polar mode and anomalous increase of the dielectric susceptibility at the phase transition temperature TDW < Tc. This mechanism describes the origin and properties of the polar Bloch component, which appears below TDW additionally to the antipolar Néel component in the 180◦ DW of PbTiO3.
The tensile strain of the DW plane promotes the development of the Bloch polarization.

Organisation(s)
Physics of Functional Materials, Computational and Soft Matter Physics
External organisation(s)
Czech Academy of Sciences
Journal
Physical Review B
Volume
108
No. of pages
6
ISSN
2469-9950
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.108.104107
Publication date
09-2023
Peer reviewed
Yes
Austrian Fields of Science 2012
103015 Condensed matter, 103043 Computational physics, 103036 Theoretical physics
ASJC Scopus subject areas
Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials, Condensed Matter Physics
Portal url
https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/efa9136d-c58c-4821-8e4a-0b246897cff7