2020/10/11 by Maayan Vizner Stern, Yuval Waschitz, Wei Cao +7 · 5 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #cond-mat.mes-hall
paper · pdf · doi:10.1126/science.abe8177
arxiv created 2020/10/11 · arxiv updated 2021/07/28
Despite their ionic nature, many layered diatomic crystals avoid internal electric polarization by forming a centrosymmetric lattice at their optimal anti-parallel van-der-Waals stacking. Here, we report a stable ferroelectric order emerging at the interface between two naturally-grown flakes of hexagonal-boron-nitride, which are stacked together in a metastable non-centrosymmetric parallel orientation. We observe alternating domains of inverted normal polarization, caused by a lateral shift of one lattice site between the domains. Reversible polarization switching coupled to lateral sliding is achieved by scanning a biased tip above the surface. Our calculations trace the origin of the phenomenon to a subtle interplay between charge redistribution and ionic displacement, and our minimal cohesion model predicts further venues to explore the unique "slidetronics" switching.