Recent reports of current-induced switching of ferrimagnetic oxides coupled to heavy metals have opened prospects for implementing magnetic insulators into electrically addressable devices. However, the configuration and dynamics of magnetic domain walls driven by electrical currents in insulating oxides remain unexplored. Here we investigate the internal structure of the domain walls in Tm3Fe5O12 (TmIG) and TmIG/Pt bilayers, and demonstrate their efficient manipulation by spin–orbit torques with velocities of up to 400 ms−1 and minimal current threshold for domain wall flow of 5 × 106 A cm−2. Domain wall racetracks are defined by Pt current lines on continuous TmIG films, which allows for patterning the magnetic landscape of TmIG in a fast and reversible way. Scanning nitrogen-vacancy magnetometry reveals that the domain walls of TmIG thin films grown on Gd3Sc2Ga3O12 exhibit left-handed Néel chirality, changing to an intermediate Néel–Bloch configuration upon Pt deposition. These results indicate the presence of interfacial Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction in magnetic garnets, opening the possibility to stabilize chiral spin textures in centrosymmetric magnetic insulators.

Layered ferroelectrics, often referred to as natural superlattices, exhibit functionalities beyond those of the classical ferroelectric perovskite compounds due to their highly anisotropic structure. Unfortunately, the layered architecture has been impeding their growth as single crystalline thin films, and thus their integration into oxide-electronic devices. Here we demonstrate fatigue-free ferroelectric switching in epitaxial Bi5FeTi3O15 thin films. The achievement of twin-free films with sub-unit-cell thickness precision on a lattice-matching NdGaO3 orthorhombic substrate significantly enhances their uniaxial ferroelectric properties. In the ultrathin regime, such films exhibit inplane polarization with a periodic arrangement of ferroelectric domains, which, in conjunction with uniaxial ferroelectric anisotropy, results in nominally charged domain walls. The uniaxial in-plane ferroelectricity and remarkable endurance after 10 10 switching cycles of Aurivillius thin films breaks new ground for alternative device paradigms that are less susceptible to limitations arising from the depolarizing-field effects in the ultrathin regime.

Funding acknowledgement:200465 -Interconversion of charge, spin and heat currents in spintronic devices (SNF) 178825 -Dynamical processes in systems with strong electronic correlations (SNF) 694955 -In-situ second harmonic generation for emergent electronics in transition-metal oxides (EC) SEED-20 19-2 -Electrical manipulation and imaging of domains in antiferromagnets (ETHZ)This page was generated automatically upon download from the ETH Zurich Research Collection. For more information, please consult the Terms of use.

The current burst of device concepts based on nanoscale domain-control in magnetically and electrically ordered systems motivates us to review the recent development in the design of domain engineered oxide heterostructures. The improved ability to design and control advanced ferroic domain architectures came hand in hand with major advances in investigation capacity of nanoscale ferroic states. The new avenues offered by prototypical multiferroic materials, in which electric and magnetic orders coexist, are expanding beyond the canonical low-energy-consuming electrical control of a net magnetization. Domain pattern inversion, for instance, holds promises of increased functionalities. In this review, we first describe the recent development in the creation of controlled ferroelectric and multiferroic domain architectures in thin films and multilayers. We then present techniques for probing the domain state with a particular focus on non-invasive tools allowing the determination of buried ferroic states. Finally, we discuss the switching events and their domain analysis, providing critical insight into the evolution of device concepts involving multiferroic thin films and heterostructures.

Combining different scanning probe microscopies, we image and quantify the density of charged defects in BiFeO3 conductive tail-to-tail domain walls.