Coupled Ultrafast Lattice and Polarization Dynamics in Ferroelectric Nanolayers

Journal Article · Fri Jun 22 00:00:00 EDT 2007 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVLETT.98.257601· OSTI ID:20953315

Korff Schmising, C v; Bargheer, M; Kiel, M; Zhavoronkov, N; Woerner, M; Elsaesser, T ^[1]; Vrejoiu, I; Hesse, D; Alexe, M ^[2]

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1. Max-Born-Institut fuer Nichtlineare Optik und Kurzzeitspektroskopie, Max-Born-Strasse 2a, 12489 Berlin (Germany)
2. Max-Planck-Institut fuer Mikrostrukturphysik, Weinberg 2, 06120 Halle (Germany)

We report the first analysis of the polarization and lattice dynamics in a metal/ferroelectric/metal nanolayer system by femtosecond x-ray diffraction. Two Bragg reflections provide information on the coupled dynamics of the two relevant phonon modes for ferroelectricity in perovskites, the tetragonal distortion and the soft mode. Optical excitation of the SrRuO{sub 3} metal layers generates giant stress (>1 GPa) compressing the PbZr{sub 0.2}Ti{sub 0.8}O{sub 3} layers by up to 2%. The resulting change of tetragonality reaches a maximum after 1.3 ps. As a result, the ferroelectric polarization P is reduced by up to 100% with a slight delay that is due to the anharmonic coupling of the two modes.

• OSTI ID: 20953315
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters, Vol. 98, Issue 25; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.98.257601; (c) 2007 The American Physical Society; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0031-9007
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
BRAGG REFLECTION
EXCITATION
FERROELECTRIC MATERIALS
LAYERS
OPTICAL MODES
PEROVSKITES
PHONONS
POLARIZATION
PRESSURE RANGE GIGA PA
PZT
RUTHENIUM OXIDES
STRESSES
STRONTIUM COMPOUNDS
X-RAY DIFFRACTION