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 and David A. Muller ()
Additional contact information
Yu-Tsun Shao: Cornell University
Sujit Das: University of California
Zijian Hong: The Pennsylvania State University
Ruijuan Xu: Stanford University
Swathi Chandrika: Cornell University
Fernando Gómez-Ortiz: Universidad de Cantabria, Cantabria Campus Internacional
Pablo García-Fernández: Universidad de Cantabria, Cantabria Campus Internacional
Long-Qing Chen: The Pennsylvania State University
Harold Y. Hwang: Stanford University
Javier Junquera: Universidad de Cantabria, Cantabria Campus Internacional
Lane W. Martin: University of California
Ramamoorthy Ramesh: Materials Research Centre, Indian Institute of Science
David A. Muller: Cornell University

Nature Communications, 2023, vol. 14, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: 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.

Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-36950-x

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