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arXiv · 2511.18280

Terahertz oscillation of $180^{\circ}$ domain walls in ferroelectric membranes

Xiangwei Guo·Jiaxuan Wu·Yujie Zhu·Aiden Ross·Bo Wang·Paul G. Evans·Long-Qing Chen·Jia-Mian Hu
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Abstract

A fundamentally intriguing yet not well understood topic in the field of ferroelectrics is the collective excitation of domain walls (DWs), with potential applications to DW-based nanoelectronic and optoelectronic devices. Here we use dynamical phase-field simulations to identify the collective modes of an Ising-type $180^{\circ}$ DW in a uniaxially strained BaTiO3 membrane. The membrane, which concurrently functions as a cavity for polarization and acoustic waves, permits cavity-enhanced resonant excitation of polarization waves. The simulation reveals an unconventional DW sliding mode that exhibits a bulk-polarization-charge-driven nonzero resonant frequency in the sub-terahertz (THz) regime with a dynamically changing internal structure during sliding. These features differ from the previously reported zero-frequency DW sliding mode or the surface-polarization-charge-driven DW sliding mode. The effect of strain on the frequency of this unconventional DW sliding mode and other previously known THz DW eigenmodes is investigated by dynamical phase-field simulations and interpreted by eigenmode analysis or analytical calculation in a simplified one-dimensional (1D) system. These results provide new insights into the high-frequency dynamics of ferroelectric DWs and suggest opportunities for realizing strain control of phonon-DW resonance, and more broadly, for discovering and controlling unconventional DW modes in conventional domain patterns with applications to reconfigurable THz and optical devices.

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Xiangwei Guo, Jiaxuan Wu, Yujie Zhu, Aiden Ross, Bo Wang, Paul G. Evans, Long-Qing Chen, Jia-Mian Hu. 2025-11-23. Terahertz oscillation of $180^{\circ}$ domain walls in ferroelectric membranes. https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.18280

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