Persistence of surface domain structures for a bulk ferroelectric above TC

Precursor Phenomena of Barium Titanate Single Crystals Grown Using a Solid-State Single Crystal Growth Method Studied with Inelastic Brillouin Light Scattering and Birefringence Measurements

The nature of precursor phenomena in the paraelectric phase of ferroelectrics is one of the main questions to be resolved from a fundamental point of view. Barium titanate (BaTiO₃) is one of the most representative perovskite-structured ferroelectrics intensively studied until now. The pretransitional behavior of BaTiO₃ single crystal grown using a solid-state crystal growth (SSCG) method was investigated for the first time and compared to previous results. There is no melting process in the SSCG method, thus the crystal grown using a SSCG method have inherent higher levels of impurity and defect concentrations, which is a good candidate for investigating the effect of crystal quality on the precursor phenomena. The acoustic, dielectric, and piezoelectric properties, as well as birefringence, of the SSCG-grown BaTiO₃ were examined over a wide temperature range. Especially, the acoustic phonon behavior was investigated in terms of Brillouin spectroscopy, which is a complementary technique to Raman spectroscopy. The obtained precursor anomalies of the SSCG-grown BaTiO₃ in the cubic phase were similar to those of other single crystals, in particular, of high-quality single crystal grown by top-seeded solution growth method. These results clearly indicate that the observed precursor phenomena are common and intrinsic effect irrespective of the crystal quality.

Surface Proximity Effect, Imprint Memory of Ferroelectric Twins, and Tweed in the Paraelectric Phase of BaTiO3

We have used energy-filtered photoemission electron microscopy (PEEM) at the photoemission threshold to carry out a microscopic scale characterization of the surface charge and domain structure of the (001) surface in BaTiO₃. Signatures of ferroelectric and ferroelastic domains, and tweed, dominate the surface structure of BaTiO₃ at room temperature. The surface ferroic signatures are maintained on heating to temperature (~550 K), well above the transition temperature (393 K). This surface proximity effect provides the mechanism for memory of the bulk ferroelectric domain arrangement up to 150 K above T_C and thus can be considered as a robust fingerprint of the ferroelectric state near the surface. Self-reversal of polarization is observed for the tweed below T_C and for the surface domains above T_C. Annealing at higher temperature triggers the dynamic tweed which in turn allows a full reorganization of the ferroic domain configuration.

Energy shifts in photoemission lines during the tetragonal- to cubic-phase transition in BaTiO3 single crystals and systems with CoFe2O4 and NiFe2O4 overlayers

In BaTiO₃ the phase transition from tetragonal to cubic is connected with the disappearance of the ferroelectric polarization. In photoelectron spectroscopy huge transient shifts in the binding energies of all core-level photoemission lines have been observed while heating and cooling through the Curie temperature. Excitation energies from 2 keV to 6 keV have been used to show this to be a bulk effect and not a surface effect alone. These observations are discussed in terms of charging, which results from the disappearance of the ferroelectric polarization. This mechanism has previously been proposed as the origin of electron emission in ferroelectric materials. Besides the jump-like shifts, additional permanent shifts in binding energies have been observed for the tetragonal and the cubic phase. These experimental shifts have been related to theoretical ones from ab initio calculations. In addition to BaTiO₃ single crystals, systems with CoFe₂O₄ and NiFe₂O₄ overlayers on BaTiO₃ have been investigated. The low conductivity of these layers sets them apart from metallic overlayers like Fe or Co, where the shifts are suppressed. This difference adds further support for charging as the origin of the effect.

The Evidence of Giant Surface Flexoelectric Field in (111) Oriented BiFeO3 Thin Film

In this work, the surface structure of a single-domain epitaxial BiFeO₃ film with (111) orientation was investigated by in situ grazing incidence X-ray diffraction and X-ray reflectivity. We found that a large strain gradient exists in the surface region (2-3 nm) of the BiFeO₃ film. The strain gradient is approximately 10⁷ m^-1, which is 2 or 3 orders of magnitude larger than the value inside the film. Moreover, we found that a surface layer with a lower electron density compared with the underlying BiFeO₃ layer exists on the surface of BiFeO₃ film, and this layer exhibits an irreversible surface structure transition occurs at 500 K, which should be associated with the surface flexoelectric field. We considered that this large strain gradient is originated from the surface depolarization field of ferroelectrics. Our results suggest a coupling between the surface structure and the flexoelectricity and imply that the surface layer and properties would be controlled by the strain gradient in ferroelectric films.

Effect of Internal Electric Fields on Charge Carrier Dynamics in a Ferroelectric Material for Solar Energy Conversion

Spontaneous polarization is shown to enhance the lifetimes of photogenerated species in BaTiO3 . This is attributed to polarization-induced surface band bending acting as a thermal barrier to electron/hole recombination. The study indicates that the efficiencies of solar cells and solar fuels devices can be enhanced by the use of ferroelectric materials.

Two-dimensional electron gas and its electric control at the interface between ferroelectric and antiferromagnetic insulator studied from first principles

Using first-principles methods we demonstrate the possibility of using the ferroelectric polarization to create and control a two-dimensional electron gas at a multiferroic oxide interface.

Polarization sensitive surface band structure of doped BaTiO3(001)

We present a spatial and wave-vector resolved study of the electronic structure of micron sized ferroelectric domains at the surface of a BaTiO(3)(001) single crystal. The n-type doping of the BaTiO(3) is controlled by in situ vacuum and oxygen annealing, providing experimental evidence of a surface paraelectric-ferroelectric transition below a critical doping level. Real space imaging of photoemission threshold, core level and valence band spectra show contrast due to domain polarization. Reciprocal space imaging of the electronic structure using linearly polarized light provides unambiguous evidence for the presence of both in- and out-of-plane polarization with two- and fourfold symmetry, respectively. The results agree well with first principles calculations.