Architecture of nanoscale ferroelectric domains in GaMo4S8

Abstract

Local-probe imaging of the ferroelectric domain structure and auxiliary bulk pyroelectric measurements were conducted at low temperatures with the aim to clarify the essential aspects of the orbitally driven phase transition in GaMo4S8, a lacunar spinel crystal that can be viewed as a spin-hole analogue of its GaV4S8 counterpart. We employed multiple scanning probe techniques combined with symmetry and mechanical compatibility analysis to uncover the hierarchical domain structures, developing on the 10-100 nm scale. The identified domain architecture involves a plethora of ferroelectric domain boundaries and junctions, including primary and secondary domain walls in both electrically neutral and charged configurations, and topological line defects transforming neutral secondary walls into two oppositely charged ones.

This is the Accepted Manuscript version of an article accepted for publication in Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter. IOP Publishing Ltd is not responsible for any errors or omissions in this version of the manuscript or any version derived from it. The Version of Record is available online at https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-648X/aae448

References in corpus (4)

• Resistive switching induced by electronic avalanche breakdown in GaTa${}_4$Se${}_{8-x}$Te${}_x$ narrow gap Mott Insulators
• Characteristics of ferroelectric-ferroelastic domains in N{é}el-type skyrmion host GaV${}_4$S${}_8$
• Conductivity contrast and tunneling charge transport in the vortex-like ferroelectric domain patterns of multiferroic hexagonal YMnO3
• Thermodynamic Properties of Ferromagnetic Mott- Insulators GaV4S8

Cited by in corpus (6)

• Possible emergence of a skyrmion phase in ferroelectric GaMo${}_4$S${}_8$
• Magnetic avalanche of non-oxide conductive domain walls
• Stability of Néel-type skyrmion lattice against oblique magnetic fields in GaV${}_4$S${}_8$ and GaV${}_4$Se${}_8$
• Antipolar transitions in GaNb${}_4$Se${}_8$ and GaTa${}_4$Se${}_8$
• Charged domain walls in BaTiO${}_3$ crystals emerging from superdomain boundaries
• Optical, dielectric, and magnetoelectric properties of ferroelectric and antiferroelectric lacunar spinels