Ferroelectric domain structure in epitaxial BiFeO3 films -: art. no. 182912

Piezoelectric force microscopy is employed to study the ferroelectric domain structure in a 600 nm thick epitaxial BiFeO3 film. In the as-grown film, a mosaic-like domain structure is observed. Scans taken with the cantilever pointing along the principal crystallographic directions enabled us to reconstruct the polarization direction. By combining the perpendicular and in-plane piezoresponse data, we found that the ferroelectric domain structure is mainly described by four polarization directions. These directions point oppositely along two body diagonals, which form an angle of similar to 71 degrees. The other variants are also occasionally observed. (C) 2005 American Institute of Physics.