Berlin 2015 – scientific programme

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KR: Fachgruppe Kristallographie

KR 4: Multiferroics I (DF jointly with DS, KR, MA, TT)

KR 4.5: Talk

Wednesday, March 18, 2015, 10:30–10:45, EB 107

Polarization control at spin-driven ferroelectric domain walls — •Naëmi Leo¹, Anders Bergmann², Andres Cano³, Narayan Poudel⁴, Bernd Lorenz⁴, Manfred Fiebig¹, and Dennis Meier¹ — ¹ETH Zurich, Switzerland — ²Uppsala University, Sweden — ³University Bordeaux, France — ⁴University of Houston, USA

As was recently demonstrated, domain walls in ferroelectric materials show emergent electronic properties, like enhanced conductivity tunable by the relative orientation of the polarisation in the adjacent domains. Here, multiferroic materials with a coexistence of magnetic and electric order offer a new route for the control of such localised functionalities at domain boundaries.

Using spatially-resolved optical second harmonic generation we demonstrate the magneto-electric-field control of the multiferroic domains in Co-doped MnWO₄. In particular, the obtained domain distribution remains unchanged upon the magnetic-field-induced continuous 90^∘-rotation of the ferroelectric polarization.

This stability implies that multiferroic domain walls can accommodate for varying local polarisation configurations leading to local charging and discharging. We discuss the microscopic structure of the domain walls using micro-magnetic simulations.