title: Strain dependence of polarization and piezoelectric response in epitaxial BiFeO3 thin films.
abstract: Epitaxial strain has recently emerged as a powerful means to engineer the properties of ferroelectric thin films, for instance to enhance the ferroelectric Curie temperature (T(C)) in BaTiO(3). However, in multiferroic BiFeO(3) thin films an unanticipated strain-driven decrease of T(C) was reported and ascribed to the peculiar competition between polar and antiferrodistortive instabilities. Here, we report a systematic characterization of the room-temperature ferroelectric and piezoelectric properties for strain levels ranging between -2.5% and +1%. We find that polarization and the piezoelectric coefficient increase by about 20% and 250%, respectively, in this strain range. These trends are well reproduced by first-principles-based techniques.
authors.affiliation: Unité Mixte de Physique CNRS/Thales, Palaiseau, France.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Daumont
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.forename: I C
authors.initials: IC
authors.lastname: Infante
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lisenkov
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Allibe
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Carrétéro
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fusil
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Jacquet
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Bouvet
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bouamrane
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Prosandeev
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Geneste
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Dkhil
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bellaiche
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Barthélémy
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bibes