Uniaxial Strain‐Driven Ferroelastic Domain Tuning in LaAlO3
ABSTRACT Multiferroic domain walls in functional oxides exhibit properties distinct from the bulk and are increasingly exploited as active elements in nanoelectronic and photonic devices. Deterministic tuning of domain populations has typically remained limited to local solutions, or removal with temperature. Here, the manipulation of ferroelastic domain structure, and removal of the twin walls between them in single‐crystal using in situ uniaxial strain is demonstrated. Combining atomic force microscopy, X‐ray diffraction, and Raman spectroscopy with first‐principles calculations, the microscopic evolution of the twin domain population is mapped through a strain‐driven transition from the rhombohedral ground state toward the predicted orthorhombic phase. Applied strains below produce pronounced surface flattening and large‐scale domain reorganization, establishing uniaxial strain as a technically accessible tuning parameter for ferroelastic domain engineering. These results open a route to active alterations of domain architectures in ‐based heterostructures, with implications for epitaxial film properties, nanoscale phonon‐polariton optics, and ultrafast lattice control.
Authors
- Mike N. Pionteck (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9937-1546)
- Matthias Roeper (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-4779-7383)
- Simone Sanna (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4416-0252)
- Alexey B. Kuzmenko (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9574-6435)
- Susanne C. Kehr (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3857-673X)
- Samuel D. Seddon (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8900-9308)
- Maximilian Lederer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1739-2747)
- Javier Taboada‐Gutiérrez (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7401-9722)
- Angelika Hofmann (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-1294-1184)
- J. Geck (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2438-0672)
- Martina Basini (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8614-7991)
- Jakob Wetzel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0000-1217-521X)
- Lukas M. Eng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2484-4158)
- Iuliia Kiseleva (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-5435-056X)
- Robin Buschbeck (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6816-4077)
- Vivek Unikandanunni (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6022-1206)
- Tobias Ritschel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-4660-7790)
- Vladyslav Kovtunovych
Institutions
- University of Geneva (CH)
- University of Bern (CH)
- Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen (DE)
- Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research (DE)
- ETH Zurich (CH)
- Complexity, Topology and Dynamics in Quantum Matter (DE)
- Fraunhofer Institute for Photonic Microsystems (DE)
- Institut für Technische und Angewandte Physik (Germany) (DE)
- Center Nanoelectronic Technologies (DE)
- Technische Universität Dresden (DE)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Advanced Science
- Published
- 2026-10-14
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.78098
- Primary Topic
- Multiferroics and related materials
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- European Commission
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
- Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung
- Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung
- Technische Universität Dresden