Influence of native structural defects activated by illumination and under the memory effect conditions on ultrasonic wave propagation in TlInS2 ferroelectric–semiconductor with incommensurate phase

Abstract

This paper presents data about experimental observation and theoretical validation effect of native defect states activated by illumination and under the memory effect conditions on the velocity of longitudinal and shear elastic waves propagating in layered TlInS2 ferroelectric-semiconductor in different directions. These longitudinal and transverse ultrasonic velocities were worked out by using the pulse echo overlap technique in the range of temperature ∼90–300 K and correspond to and elastic constants of TlInS2. The investigations reveal the illumination-induced spike-like peaks in the temperature dependence of longitudinal wave velocity centered at different temperatures in the range of temperature 225–300 K of high-temperature paraelectric phase. The temperature dependence of ultrasonic velocity of shear wave corresponding to mode exhibits a steep decrease in the slope under illumination at ∼190 K. Influence of the memory effects on the velocities of ultrasonic waves, which is associated with annealing times of about five hours inside the incommensurate (INC) phase, show similar features in the same temperature ranges: a similar well-defined spike-like anomalies in the temperature dependence of longitudinal ultrasonic wave velocity at and pronounced shear acoustic-mode softening below ∼190 K. The experimental results have been discussed in the frame of phenomenological the Landau phase transition theory. It has demonstrated that native deep level defects and crystal imperfections charged under light excitation and the memory effect condition and may essentially distort a crystal lattice of TlInS2 in the high-temperature paraelectric phase.