IN-PLANE 90 DEGREE ROTATION OF LAMELLAR DOMAINS IN PbTiO3 GRAINS REVEALED BY PIEZORESPONSE FORCE MICROSCOPY

Nanoscale switching of the lamellar 90 degree domains (a-a domains) of PbTiO3 grains in the surface of sol-gel-derived PbTiO3 /Pb(Zr0.58Ti0.42)O3/PbTiO3 thin films was studied by three-dimensional piezoresponse force microscopy. The lamellar domain pattern in the PbTiO3 grains can be rotated 90 degrees in the plane of the film by the electric field at the tip. Rotation of the lamellar domain pattern involves transverse growth of the existing embedded a-a domain nucleus, whose domain walls are perpendicular to the surrounding ones. During the transverse growth, the existing 90 degree domains extend along length direction and penetrate into neighbouring domain walls, while formation of new 90 degree domain walls was mediated by the nanoscale 45 degree tilted spike domains.