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Title: Giant optical enhancement of strain gradient in ferroelectric BiFeO3 thin films and its physical origin

Abstract

Through mapping of the spatiotemporal strain profile in ferroelectric BiFeO3 epitaxial thin films, we report an optically initiated dynamic enhancement of the strain gradient of 105–106 m-1 that lasts up to a few ns depending on the film thickness. Correlating with transient optical absorption measurements, the enhancement of the strain gradient is attributed to a piezoelectric effect driven by a transient screening field mediated by excitons. In conclusion, these findings not only demonstrate a new possible way of controlling the flexoelectric effect, but also reveal the important role of exciton dynamics in photostriction and photovoltaic effects in ferroelectrics.

Authors:
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [3];  [4];  [1];  [5];  [6];  [7];  [1];  [1];  [3]
  1. Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
  2. Stanford Univ., CA (United States)
  3. Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (United States)
  4. Univ. of Connecticut, Storrs, CT (United States)
  5. Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL (United States)
  6. Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL (United States); Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
  7. Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY (United States); Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY (United States). Kavli Inst. for Nanoscale Science
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
OSTI Identifier:
1237489
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC02-06CH11357; FG02-10ER46147
Resource Type:
Journal Article: Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Scientific Reports
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 5; Journal ID: ISSN 2045-2322
Publisher:
Nature Publishing Group
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS; Information storage; Solar cells; Ferroelectrics and multiferroics

Citation Formats

Li, Yuelin, Adamo, C., Chen, Pice, Evans, Paul G., Nakhmanson, Serge M., Parker, William, Rowland, Clare E., Schaller, Richard D., Schlom, Darrell G., Walko, Donald A., Wen, Haidan, and Zhang, Qingteng. Giant optical enhancement of strain gradient in ferroelectric BiFeO3 thin films and its physical origin. United States: N. p., 2015. Web. doi:10.1038/srep16650.
Li, Yuelin, Adamo, C., Chen, Pice, Evans, Paul G., Nakhmanson, Serge M., Parker, William, Rowland, Clare E., Schaller, Richard D., Schlom, Darrell G., Walko, Donald A., Wen, Haidan, & Zhang, Qingteng. Giant optical enhancement of strain gradient in ferroelectric BiFeO3 thin films and its physical origin. United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep16650
Li, Yuelin, Adamo, C., Chen, Pice, Evans, Paul G., Nakhmanson, Serge M., Parker, William, Rowland, Clare E., Schaller, Richard D., Schlom, Darrell G., Walko, Donald A., Wen, Haidan, and Zhang, Qingteng. 2015. "Giant optical enhancement of strain gradient in ferroelectric BiFeO3 thin films and its physical origin". United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep16650. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1237489.
@article{osti_1237489,
title = {Giant optical enhancement of strain gradient in ferroelectric BiFeO3 thin films and its physical origin},
author = {Li, Yuelin and Adamo, C. and Chen, Pice and Evans, Paul G. and Nakhmanson, Serge M. and Parker, William and Rowland, Clare E. and Schaller, Richard D. and Schlom, Darrell G. and Walko, Donald A. and Wen, Haidan and Zhang, Qingteng},
abstractNote = {Through mapping of the spatiotemporal strain profile in ferroelectric BiFeO3 epitaxial thin films, we report an optically initiated dynamic enhancement of the strain gradient of 105–106 m-1 that lasts up to a few ns depending on the film thickness. Correlating with transient optical absorption measurements, the enhancement of the strain gradient is attributed to a piezoelectric effect driven by a transient screening field mediated by excitons. In conclusion, these findings not only demonstrate a new possible way of controlling the flexoelectric effect, but also reveal the important role of exciton dynamics in photostriction and photovoltaic effects in ferroelectrics.},
doi = {10.1038/srep16650},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1237489}, journal = {Scientific Reports},
issn = {2045-2322},
number = ,
volume = 5,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri Nov 20 00:00:00 EST 2015},
month = {Fri Nov 20 00:00:00 EST 2015}
}

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Cited by: 30 works
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Works referenced in this record:

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journal, July 2013


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journal, July 2005


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Thickness dependence of piezoelectric property of ultrathin BiFeO3 films
journal, June 2012


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journal, March 2012


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journal, June 2009


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journal, January 2014


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Non-volatile memory based on the ferroelectric photovoltaic effect
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High‐voltage bulk photovoltaic effect and the photorefractive process in LiNbO 3
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journal, July 2001


Bulk Photovoltaic Effect at Visible Wavelength in Epitaxial Ferroelectric BiFeO 3 Thin Films
journal, April 2010


Bulk Photovoltaic Effect at Visible Wavelength in Epitaxial Ferroelectric BiFeO 3 Thin Films
journal, April 2010


Flexoelectric Rectification of Charge Transport in Strain-Graded Dielectrics
journal, February 2012


Non-volatile memory based on the ferroelectric photovoltaic effect
journal, June 2013


Giant ultrafast photo-induced shear strain in ferroelectric BiFeO3
journal, July 2014


Three-dimensional imaging of strain in a single ZnO nanorod
journal, December 2009


Above-bandgap voltages from ferroelectric photovoltaic devices
journal, January 2010


Metal-ferroelectric-metal heterostructures with Schottky contacts. I. Influence of the ferroelectric properties
journal, December 2005


Strain dependence of polarization and piezoelectric response in epitaxial BiFeO 3 thin films
journal, March 2012


Surface generation and detection of phonons by picosecond light pulses
journal, September 1986


Electronic Origin of Ultrafast Photoinduced Strain in BiFeO 3
journal, January 2013


Light-induced size changes in BiFeO3 crystals
text, January 2010


Strain Gradients in Epitaxial Ferroelectrics
text, January 2004


Physics of thin-film ferroelectric oxides
text, January 2005


Works referencing / citing this record:

Tuning Ultrafast Photoinduced Strain in Ferroelectric‐Based Devices
journal, May 2019


Photostriction and elasto-optic response in multiferroics and ferroelectrics from first principles
journal, January 2018


Ab initio approach to photostriction in classical ferroelectric materials
journal, July 2017


Optical Writing of Magnetic Properties by Remanent Photostriction
journal, September 2016


Rolling dopant and strain in Y-doped BiFeO3 epitaxial thin films for photoelectrochemical water splitting
journal, October 2018


Infrared Spectroscopic Evidences of Strong Electronic Correlations in (Sr1−xLax)3Ir2O7
journal, September 2016