Domain walls and ferroelectric reversal in corundum derivatives

Abstract

Materials physicists are increasingly coming to understand that domain walls in complex materials often have a life of their own. Far from being unwanted ``defects'', they may have rich and interesting physics not available in the bulk material. Here, the authors use first-principles theoretical methods to consider ferroelectric domain walls in a promising family of corundum-derivative materials. Beyond studying issues of domain wall mobility and clarifying the factors that allow polarization reversal, the authors also identify an unusual set of domain-wall-specific couplings between polarization, magnetization, and chirality that they suggest may lead to new functionalities.