Anisotropic conductance at improper ferroelectric domain walls

ORAL

Abstract

Domain walls in ferroelectric oxides hold great potential for the development of new device paradigms in oxide nanoelectronics due to their field-tunable functionality. They are also of fundamental interest for studies of ferroic and low-dimensional systems physics. We investigate the electronic conductance of ferroelectric domain walls in the improper ferroelectric ErMnO3. We show that the conductance is a continuously tunable function of the domain wall orientation, with a range of an order of magnitude. We explain the observed behavior using first-principles density functional and phenomenological theories, and relate it to the extraordinary stability of the inherent head-to-head and tail-to-tail domain walls in hexagonal manganites, which is a direct consequence of the improper ferroelectric character of these materials.

–

Authors

  • Jan Seidel

    Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA, Department of Materials, ETH Zurich, Wolfgang-Pauli-Strasse, 8093 Zurich, Switzerland, Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials, University of Groningen, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands, Materials Research Laboratory, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA, European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, 6 Rue Jules Horowitz, 38043 Grenoble, France, Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA

  • Jan Seidel

    Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA, Department of Materials, ETH Zurich, Wolfgang-Pauli-Strasse, 8093 Zurich, Switzerland, Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials, University of Groningen, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands, Materials Research Laboratory, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA, European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, 6 Rue Jules Horowitz, 38043 Grenoble, France, Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA

  • Jan Seidel

    Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA, Department of Materials, ETH Zurich, Wolfgang-Pauli-Strasse, 8093 Zurich, Switzerland, Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials, University of Groningen, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands, Materials Research Laboratory, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA, European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, 6 Rue Jules Horowitz, 38043 Grenoble, France, Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA

  • Jan Seidel

    Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA, Department of Materials, ETH Zurich, Wolfgang-Pauli-Strasse, 8093 Zurich, Switzerland, Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials, University of Groningen, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands, Materials Research Laboratory, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA, European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, 6 Rue Jules Horowitz, 38043 Grenoble, France, Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA

  • Jan Seidel

    Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA, Department of Materials, ETH Zurich, Wolfgang-Pauli-Strasse, 8093 Zurich, Switzerland, Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials, University of Groningen, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands, Materials Research Laboratory, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA, European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, 6 Rue Jules Horowitz, 38043 Grenoble, France, Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA

  • Jan Seidel

    Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA, Department of Materials, ETH Zurich, Wolfgang-Pauli-Strasse, 8093 Zurich, Switzerland, Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials, University of Groningen, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands, Materials Research Laboratory, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA, European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, 6 Rue Jules Horowitz, 38043 Grenoble, France, Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA

  • Jan Seidel

    Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA, Department of Materials, ETH Zurich, Wolfgang-Pauli-Strasse, 8093 Zurich, Switzerland, Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials, University of Groningen, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands, Materials Research Laboratory, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA, European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, 6 Rue Jules Horowitz, 38043 Grenoble, France, Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA

  • Jan Seidel

    Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA, Department of Materials, ETH Zurich, Wolfgang-Pauli-Strasse, 8093 Zurich, Switzerland, Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials, University of Groningen, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands, Materials Research Laboratory, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA, European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, 6 Rue Jules Horowitz, 38043 Grenoble, France, Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA

  • Jan Seidel

    Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA, Department of Materials, ETH Zurich, Wolfgang-Pauli-Strasse, 8093 Zurich, Switzerland, Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials, University of Groningen, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands, Materials Research Laboratory, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA, European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, 6 Rue Jules Horowitz, 38043 Grenoble, France, Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA