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.

arXiv commentThis 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

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Cited by in corpus (9)

• Macroscopic Manifestation of Domain-wall Magnetism and Magnetoelectric Effect in a Néel-type Skyrmion Host
• Cooperative cluster-Jahn-Teller effect as a possible route to antiferroelectricity
• Possible emergence of a skyrmion phase in ferroelectric GaMo${}_4$S${}_8$
• Magnetic avalanche of non-oxide conductive domain walls
• Orbital-Order Driven Ferroelectricity and Dipolar Relaxation Dynamics in Multiferroic GaMo${}_4$S${}_8$
• 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