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Second-harmonic near-field imaging of ferroelectric domain structure of YMnO3

Catalin C. Neacsu, Bas B. van Aken, Manfred Fiebig, and Markus B. Raschke
Phys. Rev. B 79, 100107(R) – Published 23 March 2009

Abstract

Near-field tip-enhanced and symmetry-selective nonlinear light scattering is demonstrated for imaging nanoscopic ferroelectric order. The surface topology of antiparallel ferroelectric domains in multiferroic YMnO3 is spatially resolved by second-harmonic generation (SHG). Optical phase contrast is obtained by interference between the local near-field SHG and a self-homodyne far-field reference SHG field. Ferroelectric domains anisotropically elongated along the hexagonal crystallographic axis were found, with typical dimensions of 1000×200nm2. The irregular domain shapes seem to contrast the behavior of ordinary ferroelectrics. Relying on symmetry properties only, SHG scattering-type scanning near-field optical microscopy can be extended to probe any ferroic order.

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  • Received 4 February 2009

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.79.100107

©2009 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Catalin C. Neacsu1, Bas B. van Aken2, Manfred Fiebig2, and Markus B. Raschke1

  • 1Department of Chemistry, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195, USA
  • 2HISKP, Universität Bonn, Nussallee 14-16, D-53115 Bonn, Germany

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Issue

Vol. 79, Iss. 10 — 1 March 2009

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