title: Nanoscale control of phase variants in strain-engineered BiFeO₃.
abstract: Development of magnetoelectric, electromechanical, and photovoltaic devices based on mixed-phase rhombohedral-tetragonal (R-T) BiFeO(3) (BFO) systems is possible only if the control of the engineered R phase variants is realized. Accordingly, we explore the mechanism of a bias induced phase transformation in this system. Single point spectroscopy demonstrates that the T → R transition is activated at lower voltages compared to T → -T polarization switching. With phase field modeling, the transition is shown to be electrically driven. We further demonstrate that symmetry of formed R-phase rosettes can be broken by a proximal probe motion, allowing controlled creation of R variants with defined orientation. This approach opens a pathway to designing next-generation magnetoelectronic and data storage devices in the nanoscale.
authors.affiliation: School of Materials Science and Engineering, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia.
authors.forename: Rama K
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Vasudevan
authors.forename: Yunya
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Jiangyu
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Wen-I
authors.initials: WI
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.forename: Amit
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jesse
authors.forename: Yi-Chun
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Ying-Hao
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Chu
authors.forename: Valanoor
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Nagarajan
authors.forename: Sergei V
authors.initials: SV
authors.lastname: Kalinin