THERMAL-INDUCED DOMAIN PROCESSES IN TRIGLYCINE SULFATE CRYSTALS WITH CHROMIUM IMPURITIES

В работе представлены результаты исследований термоиндуцированных доменных процессов в хромсодержащих кристаллах триглицинсульфата. Показано, что изменение температуры кристаллов ТГС: Cr в отсутствие внешних электрических полей сопровождается перестройкой доменной структуры, которая наиболее интенсивно происходит в области фазового перехода. Деполяризующее поле величиной ~1,4·10 В·м, которое порождается градиентным изменением температуры образца, вызывает процесс переключения его доменной структуры. В неотожженных кристаллах при концентрациях примеси, превышающих 5·10 вес. % процессы переключения затруднены, а интенсивность термоиндуцированных доменных процессов существенно ниже аналогичных для образцов с меньшим содержанием примеси. На интенсивность процессов переключения кристаллов ТГС: Cr существенное влияние оказывает скорость их нагревания. Зависимости интегрального числа скачков переполяризации от скорости нагревания образцов N = f (V) носят экстремальный характер. Экстремумы кривых N = f (V) лежат в интервалах скоростей (0,2-0,8) K·c. Доменная структура кристаллов ТГС:Cr состоит из матрицы основного домена, линзовидных и ламелеобразных доменов. Под воздействием электронного пучка наблюдается эволюция доменной структуры, сопровождающаяся ростом доменов, их слиянием и переключением образца. Высокотемпературный отжиг кристаллов приводит к их полидоменизации. The article presents the results of studies of thermally induced domain processes in chromium-containing crystals of triglycine sulfate (TGS). It is shown that a change in the temperature of TGS: Cr crystals in the absence of external electric fields is accompanied by a rearrangement of the domain structure, that occurs most intensively in the region of the phase transition. A depolarizing field of ~1,4·10 V·m, which is generated by a gradient change in the temperature of the sample, causes the process of switching its domain structure. In unannealed crystals at impurity concentrations exceeding 5·10 wt.%, switching processes are hindered, and the intensity of thermally induced domain processes is significantly lower than that for samples with a lower impurity content. The intensity of the switching processes of TGS: Cr crystals is significantly influenced by the rate of their heating. The dependences of the integral number of polarization-reversal jumps on the heating rate of the samples N = f (V) are extreme. The extrema of the N = f (V) curves lie in the rate intervals (0,2 - 0,8) K·c. The domain structure of TGS: Cr crystals consists of a matrix of the main domain, lenticular and lamellar domains. Evolution of the domain structure is observed under the influence of an electron beam, accompanied by the growth of domains, their coalescence, and sample switching. High-temperature annealing of crystals leads to their polydomenization.

Spontaneous Polarization Reversal Induced by Proton Exchange in Z-Cut Lithium Niobate α-Phase Channel Waveguides

The α-phase waveguides directly produced in one fabrication step only are well known for preserving both the excellent nonlinear properties and the ferroelectric domains orientation of lithium niobate substrates. However, by using the piezoresponse force microscopy (PFM), we present a coherent study on ferroelectric dipoles switching induced by the fabrication process of α-phase waveguides on Z-cut congruent lithium niobate (CLN) substrates. The obtained results show that the proton exchange process induces a spontaneous polarization reversal and a reduction in the piezoelectric coefficient d33. The quantitative assessments of the impact of proton exchange on the piezoelectric coefficient d33 have been quantified for different fabrication parameters. By coupling systematic PFM investigation and optical characterizations of α-phase protonated regions and virgin CLN on ±Z surfaces of the samples, we find a very good agreement between index contrast (optical investigation) and d33 reduction (PFM investigations). We clearly show that the increase in the in-diffused proton concentration (increase in index contrast) in protonated zones decreases the piezoelectric coefficient d33 values. Furthermore, having a high interest in nonlinear performances of photonics devices based on PPLN substrates, we have also investigated how deep the spontaneous polarization reversal induced by proton exchange takes place inside the α-phase channel waveguides.

Polarization Reversal Characteristics in Capacitors with a Metal/Insulator/Ferroelectric/Metal Structure

A metal/insulator/ferroelectric/metal structure was fabricated using a covering of approximately 10 nm thick of an insulating polystyrene film on a ferroelectric poly(vinylidene fluoride-trifluoroethylene) film. To fabricate several samples, the thickness of the ferroelectric film was held constant while the thickness of the insulating film was varied from 8 to 24 nm. The polarization– voltage relationships were measured to extract the main parameters, in this case the remanent polarization, depolarization, coercive voltage and biased voltage values. As the insulating film becomes thicker, the remanent polarization and coercive voltage values tended to increase. On the other hand, depolarization and biased voltage values decreased. By analyzing the above mentioned parameters, a certain optimum insulator thickness could be predicted. This work shows that metal/insulator/ferroelectric/metal devices are more useful than metal/ferroelectric/metal capacitors.