Ferroelectric domain pattern in barium titanate single crystals studied by means of digital holographic microscopy

Abstract

In this article, we report on the observation of a ferroelectric domain pattern in the whole volume of the ferroelectric barium titanate single crystal by means of digital holographic microscopy (DHM). Our particular implementation of DHM is based on the Mach–Zehnder interferometer and the numerical processing of data employs the angular spectrum method. A modification of the DHM technique, which allows a fast and accurate determination of the domain walls, i.e. narrow regions separating the antiparallel domains, is presented. Accuracy and sensitivity of the method are discussed. Using this approach, the determination of important geometric parameters of the ferroelectric domain patterns (such as domain spacing or the volume fraction of the anti-parallel domains) is possible. In addition to the earlier DHM studies of domain patterns in lithium niobate and lithium tantalate, our results indicate that the DHM is a convenient method to study a dynamic evolution of ferroelectric domain patterns in all perovskite single crystals.