Direct evidence for ferroelectric polar distortion in ultrathin lead titanate perovskite films

Journal Article · Wed Mar 01 00:00:00 EST 2006 · Physical Review. B, Condensed Matter and Materials Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVB.73.0· OSTI ID:20787951

Despont, L; Koitzsch, C; Clerc, F; Garnier, M G; Aebi, P; Lichtensteiger, C; Triscone, J -M; Garcia de Abajo, F J; Bousquet, E; Ghosez, Ph ^[1]

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1. Institut de Physique, Universite de Neuchatel, CH-2000 Neuchatel (Switzerland)

X-ray photoelectron diffraction is used to directly probe the intracell polar atomic distortion and tetragonality associated with ferroelectricity in ultrathin epitaxial PbTiO{sub 3} films. Our measurements, combined with ab initio calculations, unambiguously demonstrate noncentrosymmetry in films a few unit cells thick, imply that films as thin as three unit cells still preserve a ferroelectric polar distortion, and also show that there is no thick paraelectric dead layer at the surface.

• OSTI ID: 20787951
• Journal Information: Physical Review. B, Condensed Matter and Materials Physics, Vol. 73, Issue 9; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.73.094110; (c) 2006 The American Physical Society; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1098-0121
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
EPITAXY
FERROELECTRIC MATERIALS
LAYERS
LEAD COMPOUNDS
PEROVSKITE
SURFACES
THIN FILMS
TITANATES
X-RAY DIFFRACTION
X-RAY PHOTOELECTRON SPECTROSCOPY