Geometry induced domain-walls of dipole lattices on curved structures

Abstract We investigate the ground state properties of rectangular dipole lattices on curved surfaces. The curved geometry can `distort' the lattice and lead to dipole equilibrium configurations that strongly depend on the local geometry of the surface. We find that the system's ground state can exhibit domain-walls separating domains with different dipole configurations. Furthermore, we show how, regardless of the surface geometry, the domain-walls locate along the lattice sites for which the (Euclidean) distances to nearest and next-nearest neighbors are equal. We analyze the response of the domain-walls to an external electric field and observe displacements and splittings thereof below and above a critical electric field, respectively. We further show that the domain-wall acts as a boundary that traps low-energy excitations within a domain.