Nanosecond Dynamics of Ferroelectric/Dielectric Superlattices

Ji Young Jo, Pice Chen, Rebecca J. Sichel, Sara J. Callori, John Sinsheimer, Eric M. Dufresne, Matthew Dawber, and Paul G. Evans

Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 055501 – Published 25 July 2011

Abstract

The nanosecond response of a ${PbTiO}_{3} / {SrTiO}_{3}$ ferroelectric/dielectric superlattice to applied electric fields is closely linked to the dynamics of striped domains of the remnant polarization. The intensity of domain satellite reflections observed with time-resolved x-ray microdiffraction decays in 5–100 ns depending on the magnitude of the electric field. The piezoelectric response of the superlattice within stripe domains is strongly suppressed due to electromechanical clamping between adjacent regions of opposite polarization. Regions of the superlattice that have been switched into a uniform polarization state by the applied electric field, however, exhibit piezoelectricity during the course of the switching process. We propose a switching model different from previous models of the switching of superlattices, based instead on a spatially heterogeneous transformation between striped and uniform polarization states.

Received 15 April 2011

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.107.055501

Authors & Affiliations

Ji Young Jo^1,*, Pice Chen¹, Rebecca J. Sichel¹, Sara J. Callori², John Sinsheimer², Eric M. Dufresne³, Matthew Dawber², and Paul G. Evans^1,†

¹Department of Materials Science and Engineering and Materials Science Program, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA
²Department of Physics and Astronomy, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York 11794, USA
³Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439, USA

^*Present address: School of Materials Science and Engineering, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, Gwangju 500-712, Korea.
^†evans@engr.wisc.edu