Polarization switching without domain formation at the intrinsic coercive field in ultrathin ferroelectric PbTiO₃

Polarization switching in ferroelectrics has been thought to occur only through the nucleation and growth of new domains. Here we use in situ synchrotron x-ray scattering to monitor switching controlled by applied chemical potential. In sufficiently thin PbTiO? films, nucleation is suppressed and switching occurs by a continuous mechanism, i.e., by uniform decrease and inversion of the polarization without domain formation. The observed lattice parameter shows that the electric field in the film during switching reaches the theoretical intrinsic coercive field.     

Effect of mechanical force on domain switching in BiFeO_3 ultrathin films

Ferroelectric polarization can be switched by an external applied electric field and may also be reversed by a mechanical force via flexoelectricity from the strain gradient.In this study,we report the mechanical writing of an epitaxial BiFeO3(BFO)thin film and the combined action of an applied mechanical force and electric field on domain switching,where the mechanical force and electric field are applied using the tip of atomic force microscopy.When the applied force exceeds the threshold value,the upward polarization of the BFO thin film can be reversed by pure mechanical force via flexoelectricity;when an electric field is simultaneously applied,the mechanical force can reduce the coercive electric field because both the piezoelectricity from the homogeneous strain and the flexoelectricity from strain gradient contribute to the internal electric field in the film.The mechanically switched domains exhibit a slightly lower surface potential when compared with that exhibited by the electrically switched domains due to no charge injection in the mechanical method.Furthermore,both the mechanically and electrically switched domains exhibit a tunneling electroresistance in the BFO ferroelectric tunnel junction.     

外加电场对铁电薄膜相变的影响

采用热力学非线性理论,研究了外加电场对立方基底Pb(Zr_0.3Ti_0.7)O₃(PZT)铁电薄膜相变的影响.通过数值计算,得到了"失配应变-外加电场"相图,及外加电场与极化强度的关系.当外加电场达到186 kV/cm时,能使生长在SrTiO₃ 基底上PZT铁电薄膜从单斜r相转变为c相.在实验上,采用扫描探针显微镜通过对PZT薄膜施加不同的极化电场来研究了它的电畴翻转.从得到的压电响应相图可以看出,绝大多数的电畴是清晰可 关键词： 铁电薄膜 相变 扫描探针显微镜 失配应变     

电场中三层铁电超晶格的物理性质研究

基于微分算符技术的相关有效场理论研究用伊辛模型描述的铁电三层超晶格的物理性质。讨论了电场对电极矩、电极化率、热电系数等物理性质的影响。     

Rectification of terahertz radiation in semiconductor superlattices in the absence of domains

We study theoretically the dynamical rectification of a terahertz AC?electric field, i.e.?the DC?current and voltage response to the incident radiation, in strongly coupled semiconductor superlattices. We address the problem of stability against electric field domains: a spontaneous DC?voltage is known to appear exactly for parameters for which a spatially homogeneous electron distribution is unstable. We show that by applying a weak direct current bias the rectifier can be switched from a state with zero DC?voltage to one with a finite voltage in full absence of domains. The switching occurs near the conditions of dynamical symmetry breaking of an unbiased semiconductor superlattice. Therefore our scheme allows for the generation of DC?voltages that would otherwise be unreachable due to domain instabilities. Furthermore, for realistic, highly doped wide miniband superlattices at room temperature, the generated DC?field can be nearly quantized, that is, be approximately proportional to an integer multiple of ?ω/ea where a is the superlattice period and ω is the AC?field frequency.     

Controlling polarization dynamics in a liquid environment: from localized to macroscopic switching in ferroelectrics

The effect of disorder on polarization switching in ferroelectric materials is studied using piezoresponse force microscopy in a liquid environment. The spatial extent of the electric field created by a biased tip is controlled by the choice of medium, resulting in a transition from localized switching dictated by tip radius, to uniform switching across the film. In the localized regime, the formation of fractal domains has been observed with dimensionality controlled by the length scale of the frozen disorder. In the nonlocal regime, preferential nucleation at defect sites and the presence of long-range correlations has been observed.     

Electroluminescence and internal screening of domains upon polarization switching of ferroelectric ceramics in a pulsed self-consistent field

This paper reports on the results of investigations into the electroluminescence induced by polarization switching of a ferroelectric ceramic material in an electric field with a rapidly increasing strength. A correlation between the polarization switching and luminescence kinetics is revealed. It is demonstrated that tunneling of electrons to the conduction band and impact ionization in field concentrators are the main mechanisms of generation of free charge carriers responsible for the electroluminescence and internal screening of switching domains.     

Switching current noise and relaxation of ferroelectric domains

We simulate field-induced nucleation and switching of domains in a three-dimensional model of ferroelectrics with quenched disorder and varying domain sizes. We study (1) bursts of the switching current at slow driving along the hysteresis loop (electrical Barkhausen noise) and (2) the polarization reversal when a strong electric field was applied and back-switching after the field was removed. We show how these processes are related to the underlying structure of domain walls, which in turn is controlled by the pinning at quenched local electric fields. When the depolarization fields of bound charges are properly screened we find that the fractal switching current noise may appear with two distinct universal behaviors. The critical depinning of plane domain walls determines the universality class in the case of weak random fields, whereas for large randomness the massive nucleation of domains in the bulk leads to different scaling properties. In both cases the scaling exponents decay logarithmically when the driving frequency is increased. The polarization reverses in the applied field as a power-law, while its relaxation in zero field is a stretch exponential function of time. The stretching exponent depends on the strength of pinning. The results may be applicable for uniaxial relaxor ferroelectrics, such as doped SBN:Ce. Received 7 February 2002 / Received in final form 10 April 2002 Published online 9 July 2002     

磁性硅烯超晶格中电场调制的谷极化和自旋极化

研究了基于硅烯的静电势超晶格、铁磁超晶格、反铁磁超晶格中谷极化、自旋极化以及赝自旋极化的输运性质,分析了铁磁交换场、反铁磁交换场以及化学势对输运性质的影响,讨论了电场对谷极化、自旋极化以及赝自旋极化的调控作用.结果表明:当3种超晶格的晶格数达到10以上时,在硅烯超晶格中很容易实现100%的谷极化、自旋极化和赝自旋极化,而且通过调节超晶格上的外加电场可以使极化方向发生翻转,从而在硅烯超晶格中实现外电场对谷自由度、自旋自由度以及赝自旋自由度的操控.     

Potential distribution in ferroelectric ceramic during pulsed exoelectron emission

The potential and polarization distributions in a planar emitting layer of PLZT-9/65/35 ferroelectric ceramic with a set of conductive strip electrodes on the emitting side and a continuous electrode on the opposite side are studied by numerical methods. The state arising immediately after polarization switching at the leading edge of an applied voltage pulse (i.e., before the polarization charges are screened by free charges) is considered. When the pulsed field strength far exceeds the double coercive field, regions with alternating polarization are found to form in the surface layer between the strips. The normal component of the polarization at its maxima is close to saturation. The electric field on both sides of the surface varies as the polarization vector and reaches 200 kV/cm. At surface microirregularities, the electric field strength is much higher. This means that field emission is responsible for electron escape from the ferroelectric ceramic during pulsed polarization switching.     

Antiferroelectric behavior in symmetric KNbO(3)/KTaO(3) superlattices

Antiferroelectric behavior is observed in artificially layered KTaO (3)/KNbO (3) perovskite superlattices. While KTaO (3) and KNbO (3) are ferroelectric and paraelectric, respectively, the superlattice appears antiferroelectric based on an increase in the dielectric constant with applied dc bias. This dielectric behavior is inconsistent with the nonlinear response for either paraelectric or ferroelectric materials. However, an increase in the dielectric constant with applied electric field is consistent with antiferroelectric behavior. The antiferroelectric ordering appears to be induced by cation modulation imposed by the superlattice.     

Optical characterization of weakly absorbing PP,PE, and PP/PE films

The interaction between a solitary electromagnetic wave and a narrow layer with an increased electron concentration in a semiconductor superlattice in a preset uniform alternating electric field directed along the superlattice axis is investigated. The model of the electron energy spectrum in the superlattice is chosen in the strong coupling approximation taking into account the second harmonic. It is shown that, for certain relations between the amplitude and frequency of the alternating electric field, a solitary electromagnetic wave approaching the layer with an increased electron concentration can be trapped by this layer.     

Current-induced spin accumulation in lateral superlattices with Rashba and Dresselhaus spin–orbit interaction

The current-induced spin accumulation is calculated for a 1D lateral semiconductor superlattice with spin–orbit interaction of the Rashba and Dresselhaus type. Due to its particular symmetry, the Rashba interaction alone only leads to an in-plane component of the magnetization transverse to the applied electric field. When in addition a Dresselhaus contribution is present, this symmetry is lifted, and all components of the magnetization are induced by the electric field. Based on the density-matrix approach, the induced spin polarization is determined as a function of external in-plane electric and magnetic fields.     

Theory of parametric amplification in superlattices

We consider a high-frequency response of electrons in a single miniband of superlattice subject to dc and ac electric fields. We show that Bragg reflections in miniband result in a parametric resonance which is detectable using ac probe field. We establish theoretical feasibility of phase-sensitive THz amplification at the resonance. The parametric amplification does not require operation in conditions of negative differential conductance. This prevents a formation of destructive domains of high electric field inside the superlattice.     

Der Oberflächeneinfluß auf die Polarisation eines Dielektrikums

From a microscopic model of a dielectric crystal with a plane surface the polarization being the response to an external applied electric field is calculated. For a solid dielectric with a cubic crystal structure and with a surface whose Miller indices are (1, 0, 0) there is no great influence of the surface on the uniform polarization; for other orientations of plane surfaces and for other crystal structures an oscillating polarization near the surface is found.     

Field-induced domain switching in BaTiO3-based multilayer ceramic capacitors observed by polarized Raman spectroscopy

Polarized Raman spectroscopy was employed to observe field-induced domain switching in BaTiO₃-based multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCCs). Un-polarized Raman intensities of vibration modes A1(TO2,TO3) are decreased with increasing the external field from 0?MV/m to 5?MV/m, which is caused by the decrease of c-domain volumes. This phenomenon can be visualized from the simulated image gained from the mapping results in cross polarization. It shows that the c-domains are switched to the direction of electric field (3.75?MV/m). We also found that the load to imprint Vickers indentation on the polished MLCCs surface can drive the domains out of the plane parallel to internal electrodes into in-plane textures. Meanwhile, the in-plane domains in the investigated area are switched to form a uniform orientation by the local introduced compressive stress. Due to the existence of cracks, the domains near cracks will re-orient and align with the direction of the relative tensile stress, resulting in a different orientation.     

Higher order ferroic switching induced by scanning force microscopy.

We present the observation of ferroelastoelectric switching in a ferroelectric material. It is achieved in barium titanate thin film by simultaneously applying electric field and compressive stress with the tip of a scanning force microscope. For low compressive stresses, the presented measurements reveal classical ferroelectric domain reversal, i.e., the spontaneous polarization is aligned parallel to the applied electric field. However, for high compressive stresses the direction of polarization after switching is antiparallel to the poling field, demonstrating ferroelastoelectric switching.     

Piezoelectric voltage of barium titanate with stabilized domains

In BaTiO₃ with unidirectional stabilized domains mechanical excitation causes a piezoelectric stress that is strongly asymmetrical with respect to the orientation of the electric field applied to the sample. The magnitude of the piezoelectric stress measured in the direction of polarization of the stabilized domains is usually greater than in the opposite direction. At a cyclic change in the weak electric field the dependence of the piezoelectric stress on this field is reflected in the shape of the asymmetric hysteresis loop.     

Resonant crossover of terahertz loss to the gain of a Bloch oscillating InAs/AlSb superlattice

Terahertz absorption in waveguides loaded with InAs/AlSb super-superlattice mesas reveals a frequency dependent crossover from loss to gain that is related to the Stark ladder produced by an applied dc electric field. Electric field domains appear to be suppressed in the super-superlattice composed of many very short segments of superlattice, interrupted by heavily doped InAs regions. Resonant crossover is indicated by an increase in terahertz transmission as the Stark splitting or Bloch frequency determined by the applied dc electric field exceeds the measurement frequency.     

Effect of a constant electric field on mutual rectification in a graphene superlattice

The effect of a transverse dc electric field on two-wave mutual rectification in a graphene superlattice (GSL) is investigated. Two field orientations are considered: (i) the polarization plane is parallel to the GSL axis and (ii) the polarization plane is perpendicular to the GSL axis. In both cases, the constant field is perpendicular to the polarization plane. The current density is calculated within a one-miniband model using the Boltzmann equation in the approximation of constant relaxation time.