TY - JOUR AU - Zhang, J. AU - Wang, Y.-J. AU - Liu, J. AU - Xu, J. AU - Wang, D. AU - Wang, L. AU - Ma, X.-L. AU - Jia, C.-L. AU - Bellaiche, L. TI - Origin of sawtooth domain walls in ferroelectrics JO - Physical review / B VL - 101 IS - 6 SN - 2469-9950 CY - Woodbury, NY PB - Inst. M1 - FZJ-2020-02723 SP - 060103 PY - 2020 AB - Domains and domain walls are among the key factors that determine the performance of ferroelectric materials. In recent years, a unique type of domain walls, i.e., the sawtooth-shaped domain walls, has been observed in BiFeO3 and PbTiO3. Here, we build a minimal model to reveal the origin of these sawtooth-shaped domain walls. Incorporating this model into Monte Carlo simulations shows that (i) the competition between the long-range Coulomb interaction (due to bound charges) and short-range interaction (due to opposite dipoles) is responsible for the formation of these peculiar domain walls and (ii) their relative strength is critical in determining the periodicity of these sawtooth-shaped domain walls. Necessary conditions to form such domain walls are also discussed. LB - PUB:(DE-HGF)16 UR - <Go to ISI:>//WOS:000515628700001 DO - DOI:10.1103/PhysRevB.101.060103 UR - https://juser.fz-juelich.de/record/878254 ER -