Controllable skyrmion chirality in ferroelectrics

Abstract

Chirality, an intrinsic handedness, is one of the most intriguing fundamental phenomena in nature. Materials composed of chiral molecules find broad applications in areas ranging from nonlinear optics and spintronics to biology and pharmaceuticals. However, chirality is usually an invariable inherent property of a given material that cannot be easily changed at will. Here, we demonstrate that ferroelectric nanodots support skyrmions the chirality of which can be controlled and switched. We devise protocols for realizing control and efficient manipulations of the different types of skyrmions. Our findings open the route for controlled chirality with potential applications in ferroelectric-based information technologies.

Temperature Dependence of Dielectric Properties of Ferroelectric Heterostructures with Domain-Provided Negative Capacitance

“…Note that the effect of the negative capacitance takes place in a variety of the nano-sized systems including nanocylinders, nanodots and nanoparticles containing topological structures of polarization, such as vortices [ 30 ], skyrmions [ 26 ] and Hopfions [ 31 ]. The possibility of controlling such formations by an external electric field enables ferroelectric nanostructures to become a basic constituent element of next-generation transistors.…”

“…At each step of calculation, a linear system is solved using the iterative generalized minimum residual method (GMRES) [ 24 , 25 ]. The implementation of the method is described in detail in [ 26 ].…”

Tailoring Helicity Angle of Twisted Skyrmions in Multilayered Nanostructures

“…[8] The Néel skyrmion, also known as hedgehog skyrmion, [9,10] can exist in heavy metal/ magnetic films with interfacial DMI [11] induced by the broken inversion symmetry and strong spin-orbit coupling, [12] such as Ir (111)/Fe, [13] Ta/CoFeB, [14] and Pt/Co. [15] Considerable attention has concentrated on these two types of skyrmions together with their chirality switching in the latest years, [16][17][18][19][20] although they are just two extremes of possible intermediate states in the entire continuum. [21,22] However, recent studies highlight a novel skyrmionic configuration whose helicity angle [23] is neither Bloch-like nor Néel-like, namely the twisted skyrmion (TS), [22][23][24][25][26] also known as hybrid chiral skyrmion.…”

Vortex states in a PbTiO$_3$ ferroelectric cylinder

“…Our findings establish a platform for tailoring the vortex structures in nanocylinders to use them as essential components of nanodevices. The discovered multitude of the vortex (meta)stable states allows for the implementation of ferroelectric multi-valued logic [17][18][19][20] and neuromorphic elements [21]. Another impact is related to the design of polarization textures in the long ferroelectric nanotubes, nanorods, and nanowires with well-established fabrication technology [22][23][24].…”