Vortex crystals are commonly observed in ultrathin ferroelectrics. However, a clear physical picture of origin of this topological state is currently lacking. Here, we show that vortex crystallization in ultrathin Pb(Zr0.4,Ti0.6)O₃ films stems from the softening of a phonon mode and can be described as a Z₂×SU(1) symmetry-breaking transition. This result sheds light on the topology of the polar vortex patterns and bridges polar vortices with smectic phases, spin spirals, and other modulated states. Finally, we predict a resonant switching of the vortex tube orientation driven by midinfrared laser light which could enable new technologies.
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Rijal et al. (2024) studied this question.
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