Motion and teleportation of polar bubbles in low-dimensional ferroelectrics

作者：Sergei Prokhorenko, Yousra Nahas, Vivasha Govinden, Qi Zhang, N. Valanoor, L. Bellaïche · 发表于：Nature Communications · 年份：2024 · DOI：10.1038/s41467-023-44639-4 · 被引用次数：28 · 研究领域：Characterization and Applications of Magnetic Nanoparticles、Multiferroics and related materials、Magnetic properties of thin films

Abstract Electric bubbles are sub-10nm spherical vortices of electric dipoles that can spontaneously form in ultra-thin ferroelectrics. While the static properties of electric bubbles are well established, little to nothing is known about the dynamics of these particle-like structures. Here, we reveal pathways to realizing both the spontaneous and controlled dynamics of electric bubbles in ultra-thin Pb(Zr 0.4 Ti 0.6 )O 3 films. In low screening conditions, we find that electric bubbles exhibit thermally-driven chaotic motion giving rise to a liquid-like state. In the high screening regime, we show that bubbles remain static but can be continuously displaced by a local electric field. Additionally, we predict and experimentally demonstrate the possibility of bubble teleportation - a process wherein a bubble is transferred to a new location via a single electric field pulse of a PFM tip. Finally, we attribute the discovered phenomena to the hierarchical structure of the energy landscape.