Motion, collision and annihilation of polarization vortex pair in single crystalline BaTiO3 thin film

Abstract

Domain evolution of a single crystalline BaTiO3 thin film, initially possessing two vortex-antivortex pairs, placed under compressive displacement loading with a constant strain rate, is simulated using a molecular dynamics method based on the shell model. The evolution details, including the relative motion and collision between the vortices and antivortices and their annihilation, are carefully observed, and both the movement velocity and the equilibrium time after annihilation are estimated. When the vortex-antivortex pairs annihilate, the polarization configuration evolves into a 180° domain structure. These distinctive domain evolution characteristics could open up opportunities for designing ferroelectric nanodevices.