Nanoscale studies of ferroelectric domain walls as pinned elastic interfaces

Subcritical switching dynamics and humidity effects in nanoscale studies of domain growth in ferroelectric thin films

“…Successful switching was defined as a°180 PFM phase contrast between the two polarization states, and the presence of a well-defined ring feature corresponding to a decrease of PFM amplitude at the domain wall, characteristic of a columnar domain penetrating through the full film thickness. At both RH values, we recognize the previously-reported [12] linear (figure 2(c)) and logarithmic (figure 2(d)) dependence of domain size on tip bias and writing time, respectively. However, for comparable choice of writing parameters, domain radii at 44% RH (figure 2(b)) are almost twice as big as those obtained at 29% RH (figure 2(a)).…”

“…Experiments have focused primarily on the latter, more accessible regimes, using piezoresponse force microscopy (PFM) to image needle-like [8] or cylindrical [9] domains in single crystals and thin films. Such studies have demonstrated the creep-like lateral motion of domain walls pinned by defects [10][11][12], recently confirmed with atomic resolution by direct imaging of domain growth using transmission electron microscopy [13]. They also highlighted the crucial role of surface adsorbates [14][15][16][17], particularly water, which determine the electrostatic boundary conditions and thus the size, shape and growth rate of the domain [18][19][20].…”

Pinning-Dependent Field-Driven Domain Wall Dynamics and Thermal Scaling in an UltrathinPt/Co/PtMagnetic Film

“…At zero temperature this leads to the existence of a depinning force f dep , below which no motion takes place. At finite temperature T the combination of the applied force, collective pinning and thermal effects leads to an extremely rich dynamical behavior, which has been the focuss of many theoretical [1,2,5,6,9] and experimental studies [10][11][12][13][14][15][16].…”

Facilitation of Ferroelectric Switching via Mechanical Manipulation of Hierarchical Nanoscale Domain Structures

“…However, our experimental results shown in S1 suggested a ferroelectric switching rather than the motion of ferroelastic domain walls. Therefore, there could be a relatively strong pinning effect to the micro-ferroelastic domain walls in the present PMN-38%PT single crystal, which would originate from the existence of oxygen vacancy, topological defects or compositional variation in relaxor-based ferroelectrics [44][45][46][47]. with alternate !…”