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arXiv · 0907.4570

Shear effects in lateral piezoresponse force microscopy at 180$^\circ$ ferroelectric domain walls

J. Guyonnet·H. Bea·F. Guy·S. Gariglio·S. Fusil·K. Bouzehouane·J. -M. Triscone·P. Paruch
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Abstract

In studies using piezoresponse force microscopy, we observe a non-zero lateral piezoresponse at 180$^\circ$ domain walls in out-of-plane polarized, c-axis-oriented tetragonal ferroelectric Pb(Zr$_{0.2}$Ti$_{0.8}$)O$_3$ epitaxial thin films. We attribute these observations to a shear strain effect linked to the sign change of the $d_{33}$ piezoelectric coefficient through the domain wall, in agreement with theoretical predictions. We show that in monoclinically distorted tetragonal BiFeO$_3$ films, this effect is superimposed on the lateral piezoresponse due to actual in-plane polarization, and has to be taken into account in order to correctly interpret the ferroelectric domain configuration.

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J. Guyonnet, H. Bea, F. Guy, S. Gariglio, S. Fusil, K. Bouzehouane, J. -M. Triscone, P. Paruch. 2010-09-02. Shear effects in lateral piezoresponse force microscopy at 180$^\circ$ ferroelectric domain walls. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3226654

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