Interband transitions in epitaxial ferroelectric films of NaNbO3

The interband optical transitions in cube-on-cube-type epitaxial ferroelectric NaNbO3 thin films and a reference antiferroelectric NaNbO3 crystal are studied in the spectral range of 0.74–9 eV using variable-angle spectroscopic ellipsometry. The energies and the types of the transitions in the films are found to differ significantly from those in the crystal and to vary with epitaxial strain. The results are discussed in terms of epitaxial effects, including higher crystal symmetry, anisotropic lattice strain, and ferroelectric polarization in the NaNbO3 films compared to the crystal.Peer reviewe

Control of Mooij correlations at the nanoscale in the disordered metallic Ta - nanoisland FeNi multilayers

Localisation phenomena in highly disordered metals close to the extreme conditions determined by the Mott-Ioffe-Regel (MIR) limit when the electron mean free path is approximately equal to the interatomic distance is a challenging problem. Here, to shed light on these localisation phenomena, we studied the dc transport and optical conductivity properties of nanoscaled multilayered films composed of disordered metallic Ta and magnetic FeNi nanoisland layers, where ferromagnetic FeNi nanoislands have giant magnetic moments of 10^3-10^5 Bohr magnetons (\mu_B). In these multilayered structures, FeNi nanoisland giant magnetic moments are interacting due to the indirect exchange forces acting via the Ta electron subsystem. We discovered that the localisation phenomena in the disordered Ta layer lead to a decrease in the Drude contribution of free charge carriers and the appearance of the low-energy electronic excitations in the 1-2 eV spectral range characteristic of electronic correlations, which may accompany the formation of electronic inhomogeneities. From the consistent results of the dc transport and optical studies we found that with an increase in the FeNi layer thickness across the percolation threshold evolution from the superferromagnetic to ferromagnetic behaviour within the FeNi layer leads to the delocalisation of Ta electrons from the associated localised electronic states. On the contrary, we discovered that when the FeNi layer is discontinuous and represented by randomly distributed superparamagnetic FeNi nanoislands, the Ta layer normalized dc conductivity falls down below the MIR limit by about 60%. The discovered effect leading to the dc conductivity fall below the MIR limit can be associated with non-ergodicity and purely quantum (many-body) localisation phenomena, which need to be challenged further.Comment: 29 pages, 8 figures. This is a post-peer-review, precopyedit version of an article published in Scientific Reports. The final authenticated version is available online at http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-78185-

Controlling the Transverse Magneto-Optical Kerr Effect in Cr/NiFe Bilayer Thin Films by Changing the Thicknesses of the Cr Layer

Here, we demonstrate the impact of ferromagnetic layer coating on controlling the magneto-optical response. We found that the transverse magneto-optical Kerr effect (TMOKE) signal and TMOKE hysteresis loops of Ni80Fe20 thin layers coated with a Cr layer show a strong dependence on the thickness of the Cr layer and the incidence angle of the light. The transmission and reflection spectra were measured over a range of incidence angles and with different wavelengths so as to determine the layers’ optical parameters and to explain the TMOKE behavior. The generalized magneto-optical and ellipsometry (GMOE) model based on modified Abeles characteristic matrices was used to examine the agreement between the experimental and theoretical results. A comprehensive theoretical and experimental analysis reveals the possibility to create a TMOKE suppression/enhancement coating at specific controllable incidence angles. This has potential for applications in optical microscopy and sensors

Optical revelation of defects in epitaxial barium titanate films

Abstract Allying epitaxial strain and synthesis conditions allows for the introduction of specific point defects in perovskite oxide films. In ferroelectric films, such defects lead to essential polar and electronic properties, which can enable advanced applications. Here, to elucidate the nature of the defects, optical constants are investigated in the spectral range of 0.7–8.8 eV in epitaxial ferroelectric BaTiO₃ films, which are synthesized under different conditions. It is demonstrated that oxygen-vacancy-related defects are responsible for a peculiar transition below the bandgap at ∼2.7–2.9 eV and significant blueshifts of ∼0.3–0.4 eV of the gap and the main interband transitions. These observations suggest that the defects are dipolar complexes comprising titanium cations and oxygen vacancies (Ti³⁺–Vₒ)

Effect of epitaxy on interband transitions in ferroelectric KNbO3

| openaire: EC/FP7/307502/EU//E-CONTROLPeer reviewe

The variation of PbTiO3 bandgap at ferroelectric phase transition

Optical properties of the PbTiO3 thin films fabricated by chemical solution deposition have been measured with variable angle spectroscopic ellipsometry in the spectral range of 1-6 eV and in the temperature interval from room temperature to 950 K. The optical response functions and band gap energy were determined in the whole temperature range. The direct band gap varies from the value 3.88 eV at room temperature to the value 3.67 eV just above the phase transition. The temperature dependence of the film lattice parameters was also measured by x-ray and it shows a strong correlation with the band gap. The comparison of experimental data with ab initio electronic structure calculations simulating the temperature development of dielectric function and band gap is also presented

Optical NIR-VIS-VUV constants of advanced substrates for thin-film devices

Abstract The optical properties of several commonly used single-crystal oxide substrates were explored by spectroscopic ellipsometry over a wide spectral range from 0.74 eV to 8.8 eV. The crystals examined are (100) SrTiO₃, 0.7 % wt Nb-doped (100) SrTiO₃,(100) (LaAlO₃)₀.₂₉(SrAl₀.₅Ta₀.₅O₃)₀.₇, (011) DyScO₃, (100) MgAl₂O₄, (100) MgO, and (100) LaAlO₃, all of which enable epitaxial growth of numerous perovskite-type and other optical thin films. An analytic form for the complex dielectric function was derived from ellipsometric data through a physically consistent modeling process. The obtained dielectric spectra were further utilized to calculate the complex index of refraction and absorption coefficient for each substrate material. The absorption spectra and optical band gap were analyzed using Tauc plots. The parameters for reconstructing the dielectric functions are given in detail, allowing for extensive applications of the results of this work

Optical effects induced by epitaxial tension in lead titanate

Abstract Single-crystal-type epitaxial films of perovskite oxide ferroelectrics are attractive for integrated photonic applications because of the remarkable optical properties and effects in ferroelectrics. The properties of the films may be influenced by epitaxial strain arising from the film-substrate mismatch. Here, dramatic strain-induced changes of the absorption and refraction are experimentally detected by spectroscopic ellipsometry in epitaxial films of archetypical ferroelectric PbTiO₃. Comparison of the properties of a tensile-strained film with those of reference films and crystals reveals that epitaxial tension produces blueshifts of the primary above-bandgap absorption peaks by 1 eV and a decrease in the refractive index by 0.5 in the transparent spectral range. The obtained quadratic electrooptic and effective elastooptic coefficients exceed the bulk values by orders of magnitude. The experimental observations prove that epitaxy is a powerful tool for engineering unprecedented optical properties that may enable future photonics innovations

Faraday effect in cubic and tetragonal copper ferrite CuFe2O4 films - comparative studies

Sputter deposited copper ferrite, CuFe2O4, films can be stabilized in two phases at room temperature depending on the deposition conditions and post-deposition heat treatment i.e. in tetragonal phase in slowly cooled (SC) films, or cubic phase in rapidly quenched films. Here we report on the Faraday rotation (FR) and magnetic circular dichroism (MCD) study in these nanocrystalline CuFe2O4 thin films. The measurements were performed from the near infrared (IR) to the ultraviolet (UV) spectral range. Analysis of the IR spectral structure, which remarkably differs in cubic and tetragonal phases, enabled us to estimate redistribution of copper ions between particular crystal sites in quenched and SC films. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved