Studies of optical damage in lithium niobate in the presence of thermal gradients

Reznik, L. G.; Anikiev, A. A.; Umarov, B. S.; Scott, J. F.

doi:10.1080/00150198508012774

Cited by 19 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…Absorption of high intensity laser illumination in ferroelectric materials, such as LiNbO 3 single crystals, raises the temperature locally close to the Curie temperature resulting in a giant temperature gradient and related thermal effect, for example, thermoelectric and pyroelectric effect, which is able to switch local ferroelectric polarization . However, this type of light‐induced polarization switching is irreversible and usually destructive …”

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confidence: 99%

Light‐Induced Reversible Control of Ferroelectric Polarization in BiFeO₃

2018

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Manipulation of ferroic order parameters, namely (anti-)ferromagnetic, ferroelectric, and ferroelastic, by light at room temperature is a fascinating topic in modern solid-state physics due to potential cross-fertilization in research fields that are largely decoupled. Here, full optical control, that is, reversible switching, of the ferroelectric/ferroelastic domains in BiFeO thin films at room temperature by the mediation of the tip-enhanced photovoltaic effect is demonstrated. The enhanced short-circuit photocurrent density at the tip contact area generates a local electric field well exceeding the coercive field, enabling ferroelectric polarization switching. Interestingly, by tailoring the photocurrent direction, via either tuning the illumination geometry or simply rotating the light polarization, full control of the ferroelectric polarization is achieved. The finding offers a new insight into the interactions between light and ferroic orders, enabling fully optical control of all the ferroic orders at room temperature and providing guidance to design novel optoferroic devices for data storage and sensing.

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confidence: 99%

Light‐Induced Reversible Control of Ferroelectric Polarization in BiFeO₃

2018

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“…BPV effect in ferroelectric materials leads to an anomalously large V OC , i.e. well beyond the value of the forbidden bandgap, which itself can affect the indices of the refraction (photorefractive effect)15 and other physical properties16. However, domain walls would instead supress the value of V OC owing to the enhanced conductivity13.…”

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Enhancement of Local Photovoltaic Current at Ferroelectric Domain Walls in BiFeO3

Yang

Bhatnagar

Luo

et al. 2017

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Domain walls, which are intrinsically two dimensional nano-objects exhibiting nontrivial electronic and magnetic behaviours, have been proven to play a crucial role in photovoltaic properties of ferroelectrics. Despite this recognition, the electronic properties of domain walls under illumination until now have been accessible only to macroscopic studies and their effects upon the conduction of photovoltaic current still remain elusive. The lack of understanding hinders the developing of nanoscale devices based on ferroelectric domain walls. Here, we directly characterize the local photovoltaic and photoconductive properties of 71° domain walls on BiFeO3 thin films with a nanoscale resolution. Local photovoltaic current, proven to be driven by the bulk photovoltaic effect, has been probed over the whole illuminated surface by using a specially designed photoelectric atomic force microscopy and found to be significantly enhanced at domain walls. Additionally, spatially resolved photoconductive current distribution reveals a higher density of excited carriers at domain walls in comparison with domains. Our measurements demonstrate that domain wall enhanced photovoltaic current originates from its high conduction rather than the internal electric field. This photoconduction facilitated local photovoltaic current is likely to be a universal property of topological defects in ferroelectric semiconductors.

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“…Notable ferroelectrics with this structure (but with d 0 cations) include LiNbO 3 (LNO) and BiFeO 3 (BFO). LNO is known for its large nonlinear optical response, and, often doped with iron, it was one of the first materials in which the bulk photovoltaic effect was observed and studied [2,51,52]. However, its bulk band gap is well outside the visible spectrum [53].…”

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First-Principles Materials Design of High-Performing Bulk Photovoltaics with theLiNbO3Structure

2015

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The bulk photovoltaic effect is a long-known but poorly understood phenomenon. Recently, however, the multiferroic bismuth ferrite has been observed to produce strong photovoltaic response to visible light, suggesting that the effect has been underexploited as well. Here we present three polar oxides in the LiNbO3 structure that we predict to have band gaps in the 1-2 eV range and very high bulk photovoltaic response: PbNiO3, Mg 1/2 Zn 1/2 PbO3, and LiBiO3. All three have band gaps determined by cations with d 10 s 0 electronic configurations, leading to conduction bands composed of cation s-orbitals and O p-orbitals. This both dramatically lowers the band gap and increases the bulk photovoltaic response by as much as an order of magnitude over previous materials, demonstrating the potential for high-performing bulk photovoltaics.Photovoltaic effects have long been observed in bulk polar materials, especially ferroelectrics [1][2][3][4]. Known as the bulk photovoltaic effect (BPVE), it appeared to derive from inversion symmetry breaking. Despite intense initial interest, early explorations revealed low energy conversion efficiency, in part due to the high band gaps of most known ferroelectrics. Additionally, despite several proposed mechanisms, the physical origin of the BPVE was unclear [2,[5][6][7][8].However, recent emphasis on alternative energy technologies and the observation of the effect in novel semiconducting ferroelectrics (with band-gaps in the visible range) has renewed interest [9][10][11][12][13][14]. Several studies have attempted to elucidate the various contributions to the photovoltaic response -bulk or otherwise -in ferroelectrics [15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23]. In particular, bismuth ferrite (BFO) has been found to generate significant bulk photocurrents; combined with its unusually low band gap of 2.7 eV, it has attracted a great deal of attention for its potential in photovoltaic applications [21,[23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31]. The understanding of the fundamental physics behind the effect has advanced as well; recently we demonstrated that the BPVE can be attributed to "shift currents", and that the bulk photocurrents may be calculated from first-principles. The ab initio calculation of the shift current and subsequent analysis yielded several chemical and structural criteria for optimizing the response. These criteria have been used previously to modify or identify existing materials with enhanced response [14,[32][33][34]. In this work, we use these insights to propose several candidate bulk photovoltaics with calculated response as much as an order of magnitude higher than well-known ferroelectrics, while having band gaps in or slightly below the visible spectrum. Our results demonstrate that bulk photovoltaic response can be much stronger than previously observed, supporting the possibility of materials suitable for application.There are two figures of merit for evaluating the BPVE in a material: the current density response to a spatially uniform electric field, and the G...

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Studies of optical damage in lithium niobate in the presence of thermal gradients

Cited by 19 publications

References 4 publications

Light‐Induced Reversible Control of Ferroelectric Polarization in BiFeO₃

Light‐Induced Reversible Control of Ferroelectric Polarization in BiFeO₃

Enhancement of Local Photovoltaic Current at Ferroelectric Domain Walls in BiFeO3

First-Principles Materials Design of High-Performing Bulk Photovoltaics with theLiNbO3Structure

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Studies of optical damage in lithium niobate in the presence of thermal gradients

Cited by 19 publications

References 4 publications

Light‐Induced Reversible Control of Ferroelectric Polarization in BiFeO3

Light‐Induced Reversible Control of Ferroelectric Polarization in BiFeO3

Enhancement of Local Photovoltaic Current at Ferroelectric Domain Walls in BiFeO3

First-Principles Materials Design of High-Performing Bulk Photovoltaics with theLiNbO3Structure

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Light‐Induced Reversible Control of Ferroelectric Polarization in BiFeO₃

Light‐Induced Reversible Control of Ferroelectric Polarization in BiFeO₃