Journal article
Long-range symmetry breaking in embedded ferroelectrics
Department of Physics, Technical University of Denmark1
Neutrons and X-rays for Materials Physics, Department of Physics, Technical University of Denmark2
Department of Energy Conversion and Storage, Technical University of Denmark3
Ceramic Engineering & Science, Department of Energy Conversion and Storage, Technical University of Denmark4
DTU Danchip, Technical University of Denmark5
European Synchrotron Radiation Facility6
University of New South Wales7
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich8
The characteristic functionality of ferroelectric materials is due to the symmetry of their crystalline structure. As such, ferroelectrics lend themselves to design approaches that manipulate this structural symmetry by introducing extrinsic strain. Using in situ dark-field X-ray microscopy to map lattice distortions around deeply embedded domain walls and grain boundaries in BaTiO3, we reveal that symmetry-breaking strain fields extend up to several micrometres from domain walls.
As this exceeds the average domain width, no part of the material is elastically relaxed, and symmetry is universally broken. Such extrinsic strains are pivotal in defining the local properties and self-organization of embedded domain walls, and must be accounted for by emerging computational approaches to material design.
Language: | English |
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Year: | 2018 |
Pages: | 814-819 |
ISSN: | 14764660 and 14761122 |
Types: | Journal article |
DOI: | 10.1038/s41563-018-0116-3 |
ORCIDs: | Bjørnetun Haugen, Astri , Schmidt, Søren , Stöhr, Frederik , Poulsen, Henning Friis , 0000-0002-3093-9241 , 0000-0003-2573-2286 and 0000-0002-9596-7438 |