Probing the polarity of ferroelectric thin films with x-ray standing waves

Abstract

An x-ray-diffraction method that directly senses the phase of the structure factor is demonstrated and used for determining the local polarity of thin ferroelectric films. This method is based on the excitation of an x-ray standing-wave field inside the film as a result of the interference between the strong incident x-ray wave and the weak kinematically Bragg-diffracted x-ray wave from the film. The method is used to sense the displacements of the Pb and Ti sublattices in single-crystal c-domain PbTiO{sub 3} thin films grown by metal-organic chemical-vapor deposition on SrTiO{sub 3}(001) substrates. (c) 2000 The American Physical Society.