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Topological materials, including topological insulators, magnets with Skyrmions and ferroelectrics with topological vortices, have recently attracted phenomenal attention in the materials science community. Complex patterns of ferroelectric domains in hexagonal REMnO3 (RE: rare earths) turn out to be associated with the macroscopic emergence of Z2xZ3 symmetry. The results of our depth profiling of crystals with a self-poling tendency near surfaces reveal that the partial dislocation (i.e., wall-wall) interaction, not the interaction between vortices and antivortices, is primarily responsible for topological condensation through the macroscopic breaking of the Z2-symmetry.

The presence of ferroelectricity in hexagonal (h-)InMnO3 has been highly under debate. The results of our comprehensive experiments of low-temperature (T) polarization, TEM and HAADF-STEM on well-controlled h-InMnO3 reveal that the ground state is ferroelectric with P6_3cm symmetry, but a non-ferroelectric P-3c1 state exists at high T, and can be quenched to room T. We also found that the ferroelectric P6_3cm state of h-InMnO3 exhibits the domain configuration of topological vortices, as has been observed in h-REMnO3 (RE=rare earths)., Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures

Selenium (Se) substitution drastically increases the transition temperature of iridium ditelluride (IrTe$_{2}$) to a diamagnetic superstructure from 278 K to 560 K. Transmission electron microscopy experiments revealed that this enhancement is accompanied by the evolution of non-sinusoidal structure modulations from $q = 1/5(10\bar{1})$- to $q = 1/6(10\bar{1})$-types. These comprehensive results are consistent with the concept of the destabilization of polymeric Te-Te bonds at the transition, the temperature of which is increased by chemical and hydrostatic pressure and by the substitution of Te with the more electronegative Se. This temperature-induced depolymerization transition in IrTe$_{2}$ is unique in crystalline inorganic solids., Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, Phys. Rev. Lett. in press

We discovered "stripe" patterns of trimerization-ferroelectric domains in hexagonal REMnO3 (RE=Ho, ---, Lu) crystals (grown below ferroelectric transition temperatures (Tc), reaching up to 1435 oC), in contrast with the vortex patterns in YMnO3. These stripe patterns roughen with the appearance of numerous loop domains through thermal annealing just below Tc, but the stripe domain patterns turn to vortex-antivortex domain patterns through a freezing process when crystals cross Tc even though the phase transition appears not to be Kosterlitz-Thouless-type. The experimental systematics are compared with the results of our six-state clock model simulation and also the Kibble-Zurek Mechanism for trapped topological defects.

We report on the observation of nanoscale conduction at ferroelectric domain walls in hexagonal HoMnO3 protected by the topology of multiferroic vortices using in situ conductive atomic force microscopy, piezoresponse force microscopy, and kelvin-probe force microscopy at low temperatures. In addition to previously observed Schottky-like rectification at low bias [Phys. Rev. Lett., 104, 217601 (2010)], conductance spectra reveal that negatively charged tail-to-tail walls exhibit enhanced conduction at high forward bias, while positively charged head-to-head walls exhibit suppressed conduction at high reverse bias. Our results pave the way for understanding the semiconducting properties of the domains and domain walls in small-gap ferroelectrics., Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures

Recent state-of-the-art crystallographic investigations of transition metal spinel compounds have revealed that the d- orbital charge carriers undergo ordering transitions with the formation of local "molecular bonding" units such as dimers in MgTi2O4, octomers in CuIr2S4, and heptamers in AlV2O4. Herein, we provide a unifying scheme involving one- dimensional orbital wave ordering applicable to all of these spinels. The relative phase of the orbitals in the chains is shown to be crucial to the formation of different local units, and thus both the amplitude and phase of the orbital wave play important roles. Examination of Horibe et al.'s [1] structure for AlV2O4 serves as the vehicle for developing the general behavior for such orbital wave ordering. Ordered AlV2O4 will be seen to organize into three equivalent chains in 2D Kagome planes coupled so as to form units of three dimer bonds. Three additional equivalent chains manifest a more complex tetramerization with three different charge states and two different bonding schemes. The orbital wave ordering scheme developed is extended to other spinel and related compounds with local triangular transition metal coordination and partial filling of the t2g-d orbitals.

Phononic and magnetic Raman scattering are studied in La$_{2-x-y}$Nd$_{y}$Sr$_{x}$CuO$_{4}$ with three doping concentrations: x ~ 1/8, y = 0; x ~ 1/8, y = 0.4; and x = 0.01, y = 0. We observe strong disorder in the tilt pattern of the CuO_{6} octahedra in both the orthorhombic and tetragonal phases which persist down to 10 K and are coupled to bond disorder in the cation layers around 1/8 doping independent of Nd concentration. The weak magnitude of existing charge/spin modulations in the Nd doped structure does not allow us to detect the specific Raman signatures on lattice dynamics or two-magnon scattering around 2200 cm-1., Comment: to be published in Phys. Rev. B

At low temperatures, spinel CuIr$_2$S$_4$ is a charge-ordered spin-dimerized insulator with triclinic lattice symmetry. We find that x-rays induce a structural transition in which the local triclinic structure is preserved, but the average lattice symmetry becomes tetragonal. These structural changes are accompanied by a thousandfold reduction in the electrical resistivity. The transition is persistent, but the original state can be restored by thermal annealing. We argue that x-ray irradiation disorders the lattice dimerization pattern, producing a state in which the orientation of the dimers is preserved, but the translational long-range order is destroyed., Comment: 5 pages, 4 embedded figures