Near-field resonance shifts of ferroelectric barium titanate domains upon low-temperature phase transition

Scattering scanning near-field optical microscopy (s-SNOM) has been established as an excellent tool to probe domains in ferroelectric crystals at room temperature. Here, we apply the s-SNOM possibilities to quantify low-temperature phase transitions in barium titanate single crystals by both temperature-dependent resonance spectroscopy and domain distribution imaging. The orthorhombic-to-tetragonal structural phase transition at 263 K manifests in a change of the spatial arrangement of ferroelectric domains as probed with a tunable free-electron laser. More intriguingly, the domain distribution unravels non-favored domain configurations upon sample recovery to room temperature as explainable by increased sample disorder. Ferroelectric domains and topographic influences are clearly deconvolved even at low temperatures, since complementing our s-SNOM nano-spectroscopy with piezoresponse force microscopy and topographic imaging using one and the same atomic force microscope and tip. (C) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.