Domain Wall Conductivity in Oxygen Deficient Multiferroic YMnO3 Single Crystals

Abstract

The transport properties of domain walls in oxygen deficient multiferroic YMnO3 single crystals have been probed using conductive atomic force microscopy and piezoresponse force microscopy. Domain walls exhibit significantly enhanced conductance after being poled in electric fields, possibly induced by oxygen vacancy ordering at domain walls. The electronic conduction can be understood by the Schottky emission and Fowler-Nordheim tunnelling mechanisms. Our results show that the domain wall conductance can be modulated through band structure engineering by manipulating ordered oxygen vacancies in the poling fields.

4 pages, 4 figures; Applied Physics Letters (2011)

References in corpus (1)

• Magnetic domain-wall motion by propagating spin waves

Cited by in corpus (6)

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• Mutual induction of magnetic 3d and 4f order in multiferroic hexagonal ErMnO3
• Oxygen vacancies in bulk and at neutral domain walls in hexagonal YMnO${}_3$
• Intrinsic and extrinsic conduction contributions at nominally neutral domain walls in hexagonal manganites
• Domain wall conductivity in semiconducting hexagonal ferroelectric TbMnO${}_3$ thin films