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Peer-reviewedCC BY-NC-ND 4.0Nature Communications

Controlled motion of polar vortex boundary in oxide heterostructures

  • Pushpendra Gupta1
  • Mohit Tanwani1
  • Qi Xu2
  • Guanshihan Du3
  • Peiran Tong2
  • Yongjun Wu3
  • Zijian Hong3,4,5
  • He Tian2,4,6
  • Ramamoorthy Ramesh7,8,9
  • Sujit Das1
9 affiliations
  1. 1Materials Research Centre, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, 560012 Karnataka India
  2. 2Center of Electron Microscopy, State Key Laboratory of Silicon and Advanced Semiconductor Materials, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310027 China
  3. 3School of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310027 China
  4. 4Institute of Fundamental and Transdisciplinary Research, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 311121 China
  5. 5Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Advanced Solid State Energy Storage Technology and Applications, Taizhou Institute of Zhejiang University, Taizhou, Zhejiang 318000 China
  6. 6Pico Electron Microscopy Center, Hainan University, Haikou, 570228 China
  7. 7Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA USA
  8. 8Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, CA USA
  9. 9Materials Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA USA
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Abstract

Polar vortices in ferroelectric heterostructures hold promise for high-density, energy-efficient nanoelectronics, but their controlled motion remains elusive due to strong pinning and lattice-coupled dynamics. Here, we report real-time observation of vortex boundary motion in PbTiO₃/SrTiO₃ heterostructures using localized trailing electric fields applied via a conductive atomic force microscopy (AFM) tip. The vortex boundaries show reversible motion that depends on both field polarity and AFM tip trajectory. By precisely steering the tip along specific paths, we achieve controlled, reconfigurable vortex boundary motion with remarkable stability over extended periods. In-situ scanning transmission electron microscopy further confirmed the controlled motion of the vortex boundary. Phase-field simulations reveal that this motion is governed by switching of the zigzag pattern at the vortex core, pinpointing the underlying physical mechanism. These results establish the feasibility of externally controlled vortex boundary motion, advancing both fundamental understanding of polar topological dynamics and prospects for next-generation polar-vortex-based nanoelectronic devices.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{gupta2026controlled,
  title = {{Controlled motion of polar vortex boundary in oxide heterostructures}},
  author = {Pushpendra Gupta and Mohit Tanwani and Qi Xu and Guanshihan Du and Peiran Tong and Yongjun Wu and Zijian Hong and He Tian and Ramamoorthy Ramesh and Sujit Das},
  journal = {Nature Communications},
  year = {2026},
  month = sep,
  doi = {10.1038/s41467-026-78049-z},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-78049-z},
  note = {CC BY-NC-ND 4.0},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Controlled motion of polar vortex boundary in oxide heterostructures
AU  - Pushpendra Gupta
AU  - Mohit Tanwani
AU  - Qi Xu
AU  - Guanshihan Du
AU  - Peiran Tong
AU  - Yongjun Wu
AU  - Zijian Hong
AU  - He Tian
AU  - Ramamoorthy Ramesh
AU  - Sujit Das
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/09/28
JO  - Nature Communications
DO  - 10.1038/s41467-026-78049-z
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-78049-z
AB  - Polar vortices in ferroelectric heterostructures hold promise for high-density, energy-efficient nanoelectronics, but their controlled motion remains elusive due to strong pinning and lattice-coupled dynamics. Here, we report real-time observation of vortex boundary motion in PbTiO₃/SrTiO₃ heterostructures using localized trailing electric fields applied via a conductive atomic force microscopy (AFM) tip. The vortex boundaries show reversible motion that depends on both field polarity and AFM tip trajectory. By precisely steering the tip along specific paths, we achieve controlled, reconfigurable vortex boundary motion with remarkable stability over extended periods. In-situ scanning transmission electron microscopy further confirmed the controlled motion of the vortex boundary. Phase-field simulations reveal that this motion is governed by switching of the zigzag pattern at the vortex core, pinpointing the underlying physical mechanism. These results establish the feasibility of externally controlled vortex boundary motion, advancing both fundamental understanding of polar topological dynamics and prospects for next-generation polar-vortex-based nanoelectronic devices.
SN  - 2041-1723
ER  -