Precision nanoscale domain engineering of lithium niobate via UV laser induced inhibition of poling

Continuous wave ultraviolet (UV) laser irradiation at lambda=244 nm on the +z face of undoped and MgO doped congruent lithium niobate single crystals has been observed to inhibit ferroelectric domain inversion. The inhibition occurs directly beneath the illuminated regions, in a depth greater than 1...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Sones, C.L (Author), Muir, A.C (Author), Ying, Y.J (Author), Mailis, S. (Author), Eason, R.W (Author), Jungk, T. (Author), Hoffmann, Á (Author), Soergel, E. (Author)
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: 2008-02-20.
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Summary:Continuous wave ultraviolet (UV) laser irradiation at lambda=244 nm on the +z face of undoped and MgO doped congruent lithium niobate single crystals has been observed to inhibit ferroelectric domain inversion. The inhibition occurs directly beneath the illuminated regions, in a depth greater than 100 nm during subsequent electric field poling of the crystal. Domain inhibition was confirmed by both differential domain etching and piezoresponse force microscopy. This effect allows the formation of arbitrarily shaped domains in lithium niobate and forms the basis of a high spatial resolution micro-structuring approach when followed by chemical etching.