Characteristics of ferroelectric-ferroelastic domains in Neel-type skyrmion host GaV₄S₈.

ABSTRACT: GaV₄S₈ is a multiferroic semiconductor hosting Néel-type magnetic skyrmions dressed with electric polarization. At T_s = 42 K, the compound undergoes a structural phase transition of weakly first-order, from a non-centrosymmetric cubic phase at high temperatures to a polar rhombohedral structure at low temperatures. Below T_s, ferroelectric domains are formed with the electric polarization pointing along any of the four 〈111〉 axes. Although in this material the size and the shape of the ferroelectric-ferroelastic domains may act as important limiting factors in the formation of the Néel-type skyrmion lattice emerging below T_C = 13 K, the characteristics of polar domains in GaV₄S₈ have not been studied yet. Here, we

SUBMITTER: Butykai A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5353724 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature