Emergent chirality in a polar meron to skyrmion phase transition

Yu Tsun Shao, Sujit Das, Zijian Hong, Ruijuan Xu, Swathi Chandrika, Fernando Gómez-Ortiz, Pablo García-Fernández, Long Qing Chen, Harold Y. Hwang, Javier Junquera, Lane W. Martin, Ramamoorthy Ramesh, David A. Muller

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

47 Scopus citations

Abstract

Polar skyrmions are predicted to emerge from the interplay of elastic, electrostatic and gradient energies, in contrast to the key role of the anti-symmetric Dzyalozhinskii-Moriya interaction in magnetic skyrmions. Here, we explore the reversible transition from a skyrmion state (topological charge of −1) to a two-dimensional, tetratic lattice of merons (with topological charge of −1/2) upon varying the temperature and elastic boundary conditions in [(PbTiO3)16/(SrTiO3)16]8 membranes. This topological phase transition is accompanied by a change in chirality, from zero-net chirality (in meronic phase) to net-handedness (in skyrmionic phase). We show how scanning electron diffraction provides a robust measure of the local polarization simultaneously with the strain state at sub-nm resolution, while also directly mapping the chirality of each skyrmion. Using this, we demonstrate strain as a crucial order parameter to drive isotropic-to-anisotropic structural transitions of chiral polar skyrmions to non-chiral merons, validated with X-ray reciprocal space mapping and phase-field simulations.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number1355
JournalNature communications
Volume14
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 2023

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • General Chemistry
  • General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology
  • General Physics and Astronomy

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