Revealing buried ferroelectric topologies by depth-resolved electron diffraction imaging

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Liu, Ting-Ran, Jagadish, Koushik, Guo, Xiangwei, Ramesh, Maya, Meisenheimer, Peter, Kumarasubramanian, Harish, Husain, Sajid, Ngo, Ann V., Avishai, Amir, Ravichandran, Jayakanth, Schlom, Darrell G., Ramesh, Ramamoorthy, Shao, Yu-Tsun
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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author Liu, Ting-Ran
Jagadish, Koushik
Guo, Xiangwei
Ramesh, Maya
Meisenheimer, Peter
Kumarasubramanian, Harish
Husain, Sajid
Ngo, Ann V.
Avishai, Amir
Ravichandran, Jayakanth
Schlom, Darrell G.
Ramesh, Ramamoorthy
Shao, Yu-Tsun
author_facet Liu, Ting-Ran
Jagadish, Koushik
Guo, Xiangwei
Ramesh, Maya
Meisenheimer, Peter
Kumarasubramanian, Harish
Husain, Sajid
Ngo, Ann V.
Avishai, Amir
Ravichandran, Jayakanth
Schlom, Darrell G.
Ramesh, Ramamoorthy
Shao, Yu-Tsun
contents Nanoscale topological polar textures promise new functionalities for ferroelectric memories and logic, yet their three-dimensional structure and mesoscale organization remain experimentally inaccessible. Here we introduce depth-resolved electron diffraction imaging (DREDI), a fast, non-destructive, method that maps polarization with <50 nm lateral and <10 nm depth sensitivity within fraction of a second. Its high acquisition speed enables the first continuous polarization mapping across six orders of magnitude in length scale, from nanometers to millimeters. Using epitaxial BiFeO3 films, DREDI reveals a hidden depth evolution of polar textures: surface 71-degree stripes evolve into subsurface flux-closure vortices that bifurcate into three-fold vertices near the bottom interface. Cross-sectional multi-slice electron ptychography and phase-field modeling confirm these buried configurations and attribute them to strain heterogeneity and ferroelastic twinning in the SrRuO3 electrode. Large-area analysis further shows that vertex-like frustration forms a mesoscale percolating network above a critical length scale of 4 um. DREDI enables real-time, volumetric studies of buried topological textures in ferroic nanomaterials.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2604_00483
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Revealing buried ferroelectric topologies by depth-resolved electron diffraction imaging
Liu, Ting-Ran
Jagadish, Koushik
Guo, Xiangwei
Ramesh, Maya
Meisenheimer, Peter
Kumarasubramanian, Harish
Husain, Sajid
Ngo, Ann V.
Avishai, Amir
Ravichandran, Jayakanth
Schlom, Darrell G.
Ramesh, Ramamoorthy
Shao, Yu-Tsun
Materials Science
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
Nanoscale topological polar textures promise new functionalities for ferroelectric memories and logic, yet their three-dimensional structure and mesoscale organization remain experimentally inaccessible. Here we introduce depth-resolved electron diffraction imaging (DREDI), a fast, non-destructive, method that maps polarization with <50 nm lateral and <10 nm depth sensitivity within fraction of a second. Its high acquisition speed enables the first continuous polarization mapping across six orders of magnitude in length scale, from nanometers to millimeters. Using epitaxial BiFeO3 films, DREDI reveals a hidden depth evolution of polar textures: surface 71-degree stripes evolve into subsurface flux-closure vortices that bifurcate into three-fold vertices near the bottom interface. Cross-sectional multi-slice electron ptychography and phase-field modeling confirm these buried configurations and attribute them to strain heterogeneity and ferroelastic twinning in the SrRuO3 electrode. Large-area analysis further shows that vertex-like frustration forms a mesoscale percolating network above a critical length scale of 4 um. DREDI enables real-time, volumetric studies of buried topological textures in ferroic nanomaterials.
title Revealing buried ferroelectric topologies by depth-resolved electron diffraction imaging
topic Materials Science
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.00483