Abstract
Changes in the polarization state of ferroelectric materials are mediated through the motion of planar defects such as domain walls. The interplay between the two processes that enable the inversion of the macroscopic polarization in ferroelectric materials, non-180° (domain reorientation) and 180° (domain reversal), is not well understood. In this work, time-resolved x-ray diffraction was carried out during the application of an external electric field to investigate the dynamic electric-field response mechanisms of BaTiO3 (BT) and BiZn1/2Ti1/2O3(BZT)-modified BT (0.94BT-0.06BZT). These data evidence that the incorporation of BZT into BT fundamentally alters what processes are activated to reorient the polarization by 180°. Polarization reversal in BT is achieved through direct inversion of spontaneous dipoles. However, the addition of BZT into BT promotes a two-step polarization reversal process (i.e., two consecutive non-180° reorientation events).
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 042907 |
| Journal | Applied Physics Letters |
| Volume | 117 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jul 27 2020 |
Funding
The users acknowledge the ESRF for providing the beamtime through the user proposal system. C.M.F. and J.L.J. acknowledge support for this work from the National Science Foundation, as part of the Center for Dielectrics and Piezoelectrics under Grant Nos. IIP-1361571 and IIP-1361503. C.M.F acknowledges support at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory by the DOE Office of Science User Facilities. H.S. acknowledges a European Research Council starting Grant No. #804665. S.G. acknowledges support of the Israel Science Foundation (Grant No 51/5651). This manuscript was authored by UT-Battelle, LLC under Contract No. DE-AC05-00OR22725 with the U.S. Department of Energy. The United States Government retains and the publisher, by accepting this article for publication, acknowledges that the United States Government retains a non-exclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, and worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for United States Government purposes. The Department of Energy will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan (http://energy.gov/downloads/doe-public-access-plan).