3 research outputs found
Untangling Electrostatic and Strain Effects on the Polarization of Ferroelectric Superlattices
Khestanova, Ekaterina et al.The polarization of ferroelectric superlattices is determined by both electrical
boundary conditions at the ferroelectric/paraelectric interfaces and lattice
strain. The combined infl uence of both factors offers new opportunities
to tune ferroelectricity. However, the experimental investigation of their
individual impact has been elusive because of their complex interplay. Here,
a simple growth strategy has permitted to disentangle both contributions by
an independent control of strain in symmetric superlattices. It is found that
fully strained short-period superlattices display a large polarization whereas
a pronounced reduction is observed for longer multilayer periods. This
observation indicates that the electrostatic boundary mainly governs the
ferroelectric properties of the multilayers whereas the effects of strain are
relatively minor.Financial support by the Spanish Government [Projects MAT2014-
56063-C2-1-R and MAT2013-41506 ] and Generalitat de Catalunya
( 2014-SGR-734 and 2014-SGR-672 ) is acknowledged. ICMAB-CSIC
authors acknowledge fi nancial support from the Spanish Ministry of
Economy and Competitiveness , through the “Severo Ochoa” Programme
for Centres of Excellence in R&D (SEV- 2015-0496 ). I.F. acknowledges
Juan de la Cierva – Incorporación postdoctoral fellowship (IJCI-2014-
19102) from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness.
The transmission electron microscopy works were conducted in the
Laboratorio de Microscopias Avanzadas at Instituto de Nanociencia
de Aragón (Universidad de Zaragoza). The authors acknowledge the
LMA-INA for offering access to their instruments and expertise. The
authors thank Massimiliano Stengel for useful discussions.Peer reviewe
Untangling electrostatic and strain effects on the polarization of ferroelectric superlattices
The polarization of ferroelectric superlattices is determined by both electrical boundary conditions at the ferroelectric/paraelectric interfaces and lattice strain. The combined influence of both factors offers new opportunities to tune ferroelectricity. However, the experimental investigation of their individual impact has been elusive because of their complex interplay. Here, a simple growth strategy has permitted to disentangle both contributions by an independent control of strain in symmetric superlattices. It is found that fully strained short‐period superlattices display a large polarization whereas a pronounced reduction is observed for longer multilayer periods. This observation indicates that the electrostatic boundary mainly governs the ferroelectric properties of the multilayers whereas the effects of strain are relatively minor