Phase transitions and polarizations in epitaxial BaTiO3/SrTiO3 superlattices studied by second-harmonic generation

BaTiO3/SrTiO3 superlattices are found to have a critical periodicity of 30 SrTiO3 unit cells, below which the room-temperature symmetry is mm2 orthorhombic. The orthorhombic-tetragonal phase-transition temperature is shifted upward from the bulk value (<3 K and normally not observed at finite temperature) of the quantum paraelectric pure strontium titanate to temperatures above ambient (599 K for 30/30-unit-cell superlattices). Antidipole patterns appear in superlattices with unit cells below 10/10. A model is presented that accounts quantitatively for the change in second-harmonic generation intensity with superlattice periodicity from 4 unit cells to 50. (C) 2003 American Institute of Physics.