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  • Observation of room-tempera...
    Das, S; Tang, Y L; Hong, Z; Gonçalves, M A P; McCarter, M R; Klewe, C; Nguyen, K X; Gómez-Ortiz, F; Shafer, P; Arenholz, E; Stoica, V A; Hsu, S-L; Wang, B; Ophus, C; Liu, J F; Nelson, C T; Saremi, S; Prasad, B; Mei, A B; Schlom, D G; Íñiguez, J; García-Fernández, P; Muller, D A; Chen, L Q; Junquera, J; Martin, L W; Ramesh, R

    Nature (London), 04/2019, Letnik: 568, Številka: 7752
    Journal Article

    Complex topological configurations are fertile ground for exploring emergent phenomena and exotic phases in condensed-matter physics. For example, the recent discovery of polarization vortices and their associated complex-phase coexistence and response under applied electric fields in superlattices of (PbTiO ) /(SrTiO ) suggests the presence of a complex, multi-dimensional system capable of interesting physical responses, such as chirality, negative capacitance and large piezo-electric responses . Here, by varying epitaxial constraints, we discover room-temperature polar-skyrmion bubbles in a lead titanate layer confined by strontium titanate layers, which are imaged by atomic-resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy. Phase-field modelling and second-principles calculations reveal that the polar-skyrmion bubbles have a skyrmion number of +1, and resonant soft-X-ray diffraction experiments show circular dichroism, confirming chirality. Such nanometre-scale polar-skyrmion bubbles are the electric analogues of magnetic skyrmions, and could contribute to the advancement of ferroelectrics towards functionalities incorporating emergent chirality and electrically controllable negative capacitance.