Switchable planar chirality and spin texture in highly ordered ferroelectric hybrid perovskite domains
Chiral organic-inorganic hybrid perovskites offer a promising platform for developing non-linear chiro-optical applications and chiral-induced spin selectivity. Here, we show that achiral hybrid perovskites that have highly ordered ferroelectric domains with orthogonal polarization exhibit planar chirality, as manifested by second harmonic generation with strong circular dichroism. Interestingly, the handedness of the second harmonic generation circular dichroism response can be alternatingly switched between orthogonally polarized domains and domain walls. To correlate the origin of planar chirality in these domains, atom-resolved atomic force microscopy is used to reveal distinct arrangements of atomic rows in these ferroelectric crystals that indicate planar symmetry breaking. Remarkably, a large SHG anisotropy factor of 0.41 is measured at the domain wall. Additionally, spatially resolved two-photon photoluminescence excitation measurement provide evidence of larger Rashba spin-splitting in these chiral ferroelectric domains compared to domain-free areas. Our discoveries of domain-dependent planar chirality and spin texture hold great promise for advancement of domain-specific chiro-optical applications.
Authors
- Kai Leng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3408-5033)
- Weng Fu Io (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9339-5045)
- Yixin Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-8331-2531)
- Walter P. D. Wong (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4360-3920)
- Yuanyuan Jin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0000-5799-7778)
- Jianhua Hao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6186-5169)
- Chuanzhao Li
- Cheng Han (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4841-9287)
- Shurong Yuan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3887-4390)
- Junhao Lin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2195-2823)
- Zhenyue Wu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5104-1684)
- Mykola Telychko (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8156-8938)
- Xinyun Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2790-6884)
- Yupeng Zheng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2165-7859)
Institutions
- Oak Ridge National Laboratory (US)
- Hong Kong Polytechnic University (HK)
- National University of Singapore (SG)
- Shenzhen University (CN)
- Southern University of Science and Technology (CN)
- Ministry of Education (KN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2024-11-25
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-54524-3
- Citations
- 17
- Primary Topic
- Perovskite Materials and Applications
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 3.55
Funders
- U.S. Department of Energy
- Croucher Foundation
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Hong Kong Polytechnic University
- Office of Science
- Oak Ridge National Laboratory