Rewritable ferroelectric vortex pairs in BiFeO3

Abstract

Ferroelectrics: Electrically rewritable vortex pairs in bismuth ferrite A demonstration of electrically-rewritable vortex pairs in a ferroelectric could provide a route to realizing vortex memory devices. Swirling vortex structures of electrical polarization that are relatively insensitive to external disturbances can form in ferroelectric materials. As they can exist in different polarization states, vortices could be exploited for information storage applications, but practical methods to manufacture and manipulate them are required first. Using scanning probe microscopy-based methods, an international team of researchers led by Xiaomei Lu from Nanjing University demonstrate that ferroelectric vortex-antivortex pairs can be created and erased in bismuth ferrite films using local electric fields. They also show that large-scale vortex networks can be created, which could bring the use of vortices in electronic devices a step closer.