Ferroelectric and multiferroic materials have gained significant attention due to their potential applications in investigating emergent cross-coupling phenomena among spin, charge, orbit, and lattice in correlated electron systems, as well as promising candidates for prospective applications in advanced industries,
e.g.data memory/processing, sensors, actuators, and energy-relevant devices. The structure and dynamic characteristics of ferroelectric domains can significantly affect the physical properties and device functions of materials, such as electrical conductivity, photovoltaics, and magnetoelectric coupling, particularly, novel topological domains can bring many new physical properties. These make it possible to design materials and devices through domain engineering methods. Therefore, exploring the microdomain structures and related physical property is expected to bring new material and device solutions for post-Moore's era information technology.
Accurate understanding of domain structures and their corresponding functionalities pose challenges to characterization techniques. In particular, it remains challenging to investigate the dynamics and cross-coupling behaviors on a nanoscale
in situ. Nowadays, it is worthwhile to pay more attention to the multifunctional scanning probe microscopy technique, as it serves as a versatile and powerful nanoscale probe capable of exploring multifunctionalities. Multi-field stimulation such as electric field, magnetic field, light illumination, strain field, and thermal field can be combined with the advanced scanning probe microscopy technique, making it an ideal platform for in-situ manipulation of domain structure and its related functional response on a nano-scale.
In this study, we give a brief overview on the recent advances in our research group in detection and manipulation of ferroelectric domains and microscopic physical properties through multifunctional scanning probe microscopy technique. Special attention is paid to those topological domain structures such as vortex, center domain state and bubble domain in size-confined systems (ultrathin films/multilayers and nanodots/nanoislands) and their associated novel physical phenomena. In addition, the controllability of electric field driven magnetic switching in multiferroic heterostructures is also studied through size effect, interfacial coupling and domain engineering. Finally, we present some suggestions for future directions. Most of these studies are conducted by using the tip probe, so it is named the “Laboratory experiments based on tip probe”.
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