Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 21, 2026

Optimized Setup and Protocol for Magnetic Domain Imaging with In Situ Hysteresis Measurement
Published on: November 7, 2017
Direct observation of the proliferation of ferroelectric loop domains and vortex-antivortex pairs
1Rutgers Center for Emergent Materials, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854, USA.
Abstract:
We discovered stripe patterns of trimerization-ferroelectric domains in hexagonal REMnO(3) (RE=Ho,···,Lu) crystals (grown below ferroelectric transition temperatures (T(c)), reaching up to 1435 °C), in contrast with the vortex patterns in YMnO(3). These stripe patterns roughen with the appearance of numerous loop domains through thermal annealing just below T(c), but the stripe domain patterns turn to vortex-antivortex domain patterns through a freezing process when crystals cross T(c) even though the phase transition appears to not be Kosterlitz-Thouless-type. The experimental systematics are compared with the results of our six-state clock model simulation and also the Kibble-Zurek mechanism for trapped topological defects.
Related Concept Videos
Ferromagnetism
Magnetic Field Of A Current Loop
Atomic Force Microscopy
The AFM Probe
The probe is regarded as the heart of any AFM setup and comprises the...

