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DF: Fachverband Dielektrische Festkörper

DF 15: Ferroics - Domains, Domain Walls and Skyrmions III

DF 15.3: Talk

Wednesday, March 22, 2017, 15:45–16:00, WIL B321

Inner structure of topological defects in hexagonal manganites — Kostantin Shapovalov¹, Megan Holtz², Julia Mundy², David Muller², Zewu Yan³, Edith Bourret-Courchesne³, Dennis Meier⁴, and •Andrés Cano¹ — ¹CNRS, Univ. Bordeaux, ICMCB, Bordeaux, France — ²Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA — ³Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA — ⁴Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway

Structural domain walls and vortices are two different incarnations of topological defects in the hexagonal manganites RMnO3. These entities display intriguing functional features related to their local transport properties and can be regarded as analog systems for the study of the formation of cosmic strings in the early universe. We develop a field-theory description of their inner structure supporting the experimental characterization of these defects by means of HAADF scanning transmission electron microscopy. Our theory reveals novel features such as the emergence of a continuous U(1) symmetry at the vortex cores and a multipolar charge (re-)distribution that become universal in these regions. These inner features are expected to bring forth an additional degree of functionality to these topological defects.