Abstract
Topological defects (TDs) are at the heart of many intriguing phenomena in fields as diverse as biology and materials science. Emergent functionalities emanating from topological defects—such as the ability of domain walls to host itinerant electrons—make them potential hosts for charge conductivity, as well as superconductivity, as measured in twinned crystals of WO3. Thus, ferroelastic domains and domain boundaries are intriguing objects of study in fundamental and applied sciences. Here, we utilized Bragg coherent diffractive imaging (BCDI) to capture ferroelastic twins in an individual BaFe12O19 nanocrystal. BCDI is a lens-less diffractive imaging technique that relies on coherent properties of X-ray beams to resolve deformation fields in individual nanocrystals from measured coherent diffraction pattern. Here, we reconstruct the morphology and displacement field of (200) planes. Our reconstructions identify ferroelastic domains with homogenous displacement fields separated by domain boundaries. The efficacy of BCDI in studying TDs in three dimensions is demonstrated.
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The data are available both at the Advanced Photon Source and upon request from the corresponding author.
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Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the US Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science under award No. DE-SC0023148. This research used resources of the Advanced Photon Source (APS), a US Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science User Facility operated for the DOE Office of Science by Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) under contract No. DE-AC02-06CH11357. The Bragg coherent Diffraction Experiments were carried out at the Advanced photon source. Raw data were measured at the Advanced Photon Source Sector 34-ID-C and are permanently deposited there. The data supporting the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon request. We thank the staff at ANL and the APS for their support.
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Shi, X., Nazirkar, N.P., Barringer, Z. et al. Topological defects and ferroelastic twins in ferroelectric nanocrystals: What coherent X-rays can reveal about them. MRS Advances 7, 899–904 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1557/s43580-022-00352-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/s43580-022-00352-w