Abstract
We have imaged optically the spatial distributions of ferroelectricity and piezoelectricity at the diffraction limit. Contributions to the birefringence from electro-optics –linked to ferroelectricity– as well as strain –arising from converse piezoelectric effects– have been recorded simultaneously in a BaTiO3 thin film. The concurrent recording of electro-optic and piezo-optic mappings revealed that, far from the ideal uniformity, the ferroelectric and piezoelectric responses were strikingly inhomogeneous, exhibiting significant fluctuations over the scale of the micrometer. The optical methods here described are appropriate to study the variations of these properties simultaneously, which are of great relevance when ferroelectrics are downscaled to small sizes for applications in data storage and processing.
Highlights
The electrical polarization in ferroelectrics can be reversed by the application of electric fields
Not less important is the fact that polarized light is sensitive to both ferroelectricity and magnetism –the latter through magneto-optic effects, being able to sense both degrees of freedom even at deeply buried interfaces, which is certainly a good asset when it comes to analyzing magnetoelectric coupling in composite systems[27,28]
Equation 1 can be transformed in a way so as to reflect the dependence of Δ n on the ferroelectric polarization P, which is related to the applied electric field by P = χ E, where χ is the linear electric susceptibility
Summary
The electrical polarization in ferroelectrics can be reversed by the application of electric fields. Optics provides a way to image the ferroelectric response by measuring the birefringence arising from electro-optic effects[17,18,19,20,21,22,23] When it comes to applications requiring deep dimensional scaling, the device yield is critically dependent on the uniformity of the ferroelectric properties. The analysis of the ferroelectric properties has been undertaken by exploiting the interaction of polarized light with matter subjected to electric fields (E) In these circumstances, an optical birefringence in a ferroelectric appears because of changes in the refractive index mediated by linear electro-optic (rEO) as well as piezo-optic (rPE) coefficients, i.e.30,31.
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