Strong amplification of an electric field and electro-optical response in ultrathin heterostructures ferroelectric-linear dielectric

An electroded heterostructure consisting of a dye layer sandwiched between two polymer ferroelectric layers is discussed. The dye layer plays a role of the probe of the electric field measured by an electroabsorption technique. Using this new method the electric field in ferroelectric and dielectric layers can be measured separately. When an a.c. voltage is applied to the heterostructure, the electric field in the dye layer increases 2.2 times (up to 0.55 GV/m), whereas the field in the ferroelectric decreases 2 times with respect to the average field in the entire structure. Moreover, the dye layer sandwiched between the ferroelectric layers may stand without breakdown the fields 5–7 times higher than a neat reference dye layer confined between metal electrodes. Therefore, the performance of electro-optical, electromechanical and other field controlled devices may be improved considerably when their functional materials are placed between ferroelectrics layers.