Dynamics of Conducting Ferroelectric Domain Walls

Abstract

We report on the dynamics of a conducting domain wall under applied dc and ac voltages. These dynamics are modeled for a thin film that hosts an ideal charged domain wall via a combination of time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau equations for the polarization, the Schr\"odinger equation for the electron gas, and Poisson's equation for the electrostatic potential. The electron dynamics are treated within a Born-Oppenheimer approximation. We find that the electron gas introduces an additional degree of freedom, beyond polarization relaxation, that modifies the dynamical response of the domain wall. While marginally relevant for the dc response, the electron dynamics have a pronounced effect on the film's ac dielectric function. The dielectric function has an intrinsic contribution, due to the bulk susceptibility of the film, and an extrinsic contribution due to the domain-wall displacement. The elecron gas affects the dielectric function by changing both the amplitude and phase of the displacement.