Growth of isolated domains induced by focused ion beam irradiation in congruent lithium niobate

ABSTRACT

Formation of isolated domains induced by i-beam irradiation in single crystals of congruent lithium niobate with polar surface covered by uniform resist layer was studied. The change of domain shape with dose increase was attributed to gradual penetration of charge through the resist layer caused by i-beam milling. The appearance of the dendrite structures was attributed to formation of the surface dielectric gap due to out-diffusion of oxygen to electrode. We applied the obtained knowledge for creation of the 1-µm-period 2D square arrays of isolated domains with minimal radius about 300 nm and the 1-µm-period 1D pattern of stripe domains.

KEYWORDS:

• Lithium niobate
• domain engineering
• focused ion beam patterning

Acknowledgments

The equipment of the Ural Center for Shared Use “Modern nanotechnology” UrFU was used. The research was made possible in part by RFBR (15-32-21102-mol_a_ved), by Government of the Russian Federation (Act 211, Agreement 02.A03.21.0006), and by President of Russian Federation grant for young scientists (Contract 14.Y30.16.8441-МК). V.S. acknowledges financial support within the State Task from the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation (Project No. 1366.2014/236).