2025/06/12 by Zhiyang Zeng, Z. Zeng, Zeng, Z. +10 · 1 voice
Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #2D Materials and Applications #FOS: Physical sciences #Magnetic properties of thin films #Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci) #Multiferroics and related materials #cond-mat.mtrl-sci
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2506.10682
openalex publication_date 2025/06/12 · arxiv published 2025/06/12 · arxiv updated 2025/06/12 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Ultrafast switching of ferroic phases is an important research frontier, with significant technological potential. Yet, current efforts are meeting some key challenges, ranging from limited speeds in ferromagnets to intrinsic volatility of switched domains due to uncompensated depolarizing fields in ferroelectrics. Unlike these ferroic systems, ferroaxial materials host bistable states that do not break spatial-inversion or time-reversal symmetry, and are therefore immune to depolarizing fields. Yet, they are difficult to manipulate because external axial fields are not easily constructed with conventional methods. Here, we demonstrate ultrafast switching of ferroaxial order by engineering an effective axial field made up of circularly driven terahertz phonon modes. A switched ferroaxial domain remains stable for many hours and can be reversed back with a second terahertz pulse of opposite helicity. The effects demonstrated here may lead to a new platform for ultrafast information storage.