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Register a new userAtomic-environment-dependent thickness of ferroelastic domain walls
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Domain walls are of increasing interest in ferroelectrics because of their unique properties and potential applications in future nanoelectronics. However, the thickness of ferroelastic domain walls remains elusive due to the challenges in experimental characterization. Here, we determine the atomic structure of ferroelastic domain walls and precisely measure the polarization and domain wall thickness at picometer scale using annular bright field imaging in an aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscope. We find that the domain wall thickness in PbZr0.2Ti0.8O3 and PbTiO3 thin films is typically about one-unit cell, across which the oxygen octahedron distortion behavior is in excellent agreement with first principles calculations. Remarkably, wider domain walls about two-unit cells in thickness are also observed for those domains walls are coupled with dislocations and underwent a compressive strain. These results suggest that the thickness of ferroelastic domain walls highly depends on their atomic environments. This study can help us to understand the past debatable experimental results and provide further insights into control of domain walls via strain engineering for their possible applications in nanoelectronics.
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Ferroic materials are well known to exhibit heterogeneity in the form of domain walls. Understanding the properties of these boundaries is crucial for controlling functionality with external stimuli and for realizing their potential for ultra-low power memory and logic devices as well as novel computing architectures. In this work, we employ synchrotron-based near-field infrared nano-spectroscopy to reveal the vibrational properties of ferroelastic (90$^circ$ ferroelectric) domain walls in the hybrid improper ferroelectric Ca$_3$Ti$_2$O$_7$. By locally mapping the Ti-O stretching and Ti-O-Ti bending modes, we reveal how structural order parameters rotate across a wall. Thus, we link observed near-field amplitude changes to underlying structural modulations and test ferroelectric switching models against real space measurements of local structure. This initiative opens the door to broadband infrared nano-imaging of heterogeneity in ferroics.
This article addresses the much debated question whether the degree of hydrophobicity of single-layer graphene (1LG) is different from the one of double-layer graphene (2LG). Knowledge of the water affinity of graphene and its spatial variations is critically important as it can affect the graphene properties as well as the performance of graphene devices exposed to humidity. By employing chemical force microscopy (CFM) with a probe rendered hydrophobic by functionalization with octadecyltrichlorosilane (OTS), the adhesion force between the probe and epitaxial graphene on SiC has been measured in deionized water. Owing to the hydrophobic attraction, a larger adhesion force was measured on 2LG domains of graphene surfaces, thus showing that 2LG is more hydrophobic than 1LG. Identification of 1LG and 2LG domains was achieved through Kelvin probe force microscopy and Raman spectral mapping. Approximate values of the adhesion force per OTS molecule have been calculated through contact area analysis. Furthermore, the contrast of friction force images measured in contact mode was reversed to the 1LG/2LG adhesion contrast and its origin was discussed in terms of the likely water depletion over hydrophobic domains as well as deformation in the contact area between AFM tip and 1LG.
The control of domain walls or spin textures is crucial for spintronic applications of antiferromagnets. Despite many efforts, it has been challenging to directly visualize antiferromagnetic domains or domain walls with nanoscale resolution, especially in magnetic field. Here, we report magnetic imaging of domain walls in several uniaxial antiferromagnets, the topological insulator MnBi$_2$Te$_4$ family and the Dirac semimetal EuMnBi$_2$, using cryogenic magnetic force microscopy (MFM). Our MFM results reveal higher magnetic susceptibility or net moments inside the domain walls than in domains. Domain walls in these antiferromagnets form randomly with strong thermal and magnetic field dependences. The direct visualization of domain walls and domain structure in magnetic field will not only facilitate the exploration of intrinsic phenomena in topological antiferromagnets, but also open a new path toward control and manipulation of domain walls or spin textures in functional antiferromagnets.
It is well documented that subjecting perpendicular magnetic films which exhibit the interfacial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI) to an in-plane magnetic field results in a domain wall (DW) energy, $sigma$, that is highly anisotropic with respect to the orientation of the DW in the film plane, $Theta$. We demonstrate that this anisotropy has a profound impact on the elastic response of the DW as characterized by the surface stiffness, $tilde{sigma}(Theta) = sigma(Theta) + sigma(Theta)$, and evaluate its dependence on the length scale of deformation. The influence of the stiffness on DW mobility in the creep regime is assessed, with analytic and numerical calculations showing trends in $tilde{sigma}$ that better represent experimental measurements of domain wall velocity in magnetic thin films compared to $sigma$ alone. Our treatment provides experimental support for theoretical models of the mobility of anisotropic elastic manifolds and makes progress toward a more complete understanding of magnetic domain wall creep.
Growth, electronic and magnetic properties of $gamma$-Fe$_{4}$N atomic layers on Cu(001) are studied by scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy and x-ray absorption spectroscopy/magnetic circular dichroism. A continuous film of ordered trilayer $gamma$-Fe$_{4}$N is obtained by Fe deposition under N$_{2}$ atmosphere onto monolayer Fe$_{2}$N/Cu(001), while the repetition of a bombardment with 0.5 keV N$^{+}$ ions during growth cycles results in imperfect bilayer $gamma$-Fe$_{4}$N. The increase in the sample thickness causes the change of the surface electronic structure, as well as the enhancement in the spin magnetic moment of Fe atoms reaching $sim$ 1.4 $mu_{mathrm B}$/atom in the trilayer sample. The observed thickness-dependent properties of the system are well interpreted by layer-resolved density of states calculated using first principles, which demonstrates the strongly layer-dependent electronic states within each surface, subsurface, and interfacial plane of the $gamma$-Fe$_{4}$N atomic layers on Cu(001).
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