High resolution study of permanent photoinduced reflectivity changes and charge-order domain switching in Bi0.3Ca0.7MnO3 -: art. no. 127204

We report near-field and far-field optical microscopic studies of photoinduced effects in charge-ordered Bi0.3Ca0.7MnO3. Unlike previously reported transient photoinduced effects in manganites, we have observed permanent reflectivity changes following local sample illumination with 488 nm light. High-resolution images of exposed regions reveal optical contrast on a submicrometer scale. This observation. indicates that photonic band-gap structures may be created using holographic recording in manganites. We also present, images of photoinduced charge-order domain switching in Bi0.3Ca0.7MnO3.