Charged Domain Walls in Lithium Niobate with Inhomogeneous Bulk Conductivity

Abstract

The surface treatments by annealing in vacuum and by low energy ion irradiation have been used for inhomogeneous modification of the bulk conductivity of lithium niobate single crystals. The obtained inhomogeneous conductivity resulted in significant decreasing of external electric field in the treated volume. The inhomogeneous field distribution allowed us to obtain the polarization reversal in the bulk only, which led to formation of the domains with charged domain walls. The geometry of charged domain walls has been investigated by various methods. The proposed treatment techniques can be used for domain engineering in lithium niobate crystals.

Keywords:

• Ion irradiation
• vacuum annealing
• domain structure
• domain engineering

Acknowledgments

The equipment of the Ural Center for Shared Use “Modern nanotechnology” UrFU was used.

Funding

The research was made possible in part by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation (contract No. 14.594.21.0011). The research was also supported by RFBR and the Government of Sverdlovsk region (grant 13-02-96041-r-Ural-a), by RFBR (grant 13-02-01391-a) and by UrFU development program for young scientists.