title: Engineering polarization rotation in a ferroelectric superlattice.
abstract: A key property that drives research in ferroelectric perovskite oxides is their strong piezoelectric response in which an electric field is induced by an applied strain, and vice versa for the converse piezoelectric effect. We have achieved an experimental enhancement of the piezoelectric response and dielectric tunability in artificially layered epitaxial PbTiO(3)/CaTiO(3) superlattices through an engineered rotation of the polarization direction. As the relative layer thicknesses within the superlattice were changed from sample to sample we found evidence for polarization rotation in multiple x-ray diffraction measurements. Associated changes in functional properties were seen in electrical measurements and piezoforce microscopy. The results demonstrate a new approach to inducing polarization rotation under ambient conditions in an artificially layered thin film.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York 11794-3800, USA.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sinsheimer
authors.forename: S J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Callori
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bein
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Benkara
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Daley
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Coraor
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Su
authors.forename: P W
authors.initials: PW
authors.lastname: Stephens
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dawber