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Unusual behaviour of the ferroelectric polarization in PbTiO$_{3}$/SrTiO$_{3}$ superlattices

M. Dawber·C. Lichtensteiger·M. Cantoni·M. Veithen·P. Ghosez·K. Johnston·K. M. Rabe·J. -M. Triscone
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Abstract

Artificial PbTiO$_{3}$/SrTiO$_{3}$ superlattices were constructed using off-axis RF magnetron sputtering. X-ray diffraction and piezoelectric atomic force microscopy were used to study the evolution of the ferroelectric polarization as the ratio of PbTiO$_{3}$ to SrTiO$_{3}$ was changed. For PbTiO$_{3}$ layer thicknesses larger than the 3-unit cells SrTiO$_{3}$ thickness used in the structure, the polarization is found to be reduced as the PbTiO$_{3}$ thickness is decreased. This observation confirms the primary role of the depolarization field in the polarization reduction in thin films. For the samples with ratios of PbTiO$_{3}$ to SrTiO$_{3}$ of less than one a surprising recovery of ferroelectricity that cannot be explained by electrostatic considerations was observed.

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M. Dawber, C. Lichtensteiger, M. Cantoni, M. Veithen, P. Ghosez, K. Johnston, K. M. Rabe, J. -M. Triscone. 2005-06-17. Unusual behaviour of the ferroelectric polarization in PbTiO$_{3}$/SrTiO$_{3}$ superlattices. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.95.177601

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