Multimodal Topological Textures Arising from Coupled Structural Orders in SrTiO$_3$

Abstract: Magnetic spin topological textures recently found their electrical counterparts in polar topologies emerging from the condensation of inhomogeneous polar atomic distortions. Here, we further extend the concept to other non-polar atomic degrees of freedom. Taking SrTiO$3$ as a prototypical example, we investigate from second-principles atomistic simulations, the equilibrium domain structures and topological textures associated with the natural antiferrodistortive rotations of its oxygen octahedra. % Besides the common 90$^\circ$ antiferrodistortive domain walls (twin boundaries), we identify new metastable 180$^\circ$ domain walls oriented along the $\lbrace100\rbrace\mathrm{pc}$ direction, when compressive epitaxial strain is applied. These domains exhibit complex antiferrodistortive Bloch- and N\'eel-like configurations with the later being the most favorable. We also stabilize antiferrodistortive vortex and antivortex structures which are accompanied by co-localized polarization vortices and a complex pattern of the local strain field, giving rise to a trimodal topological structures. Our results extends the concept of topological ordering to non-polar structural degrees of freedom and highlights the role of lattice-mediated couplings in stabilizing complex textures in perovskite oxides.