Berlin 2008 – scientific programme

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O: Fachverband Oberflächenphysik

O 63: Symposium: Frontiers of Surface Sensitive Electron Microscopy II (Invited Speakers: Jürgen Kirschner, Liviu Chelaru, Michael Bauer, Claus Schneider)

O 63.8: Talk

Thursday, February 28, 2008, 12:15–12:30, MA 043

Imaging ferroelectric domains with reflected low energy electrons — •Salia Cherifi — CNRS-Institut Neel, BP166, F-38042 Grenoble, France

In the very-low electron energy regime, reflected electrons from a specimen mirror are highly sensitive to topography and to electric surface potential. The sensitivity of the so-called mirror electron microscopy have been exploited in this study for imaging periodic -up and down- ferroelectric nano-strips designed on thin ferroelectric films and multiferroics. The ferroelectric domains have been written with a conducting tip of an atomic force microscope (AFM) and imaged initially using piezoelectric force microscopy (PFM). The images obtained in mirror electron microscopy (MEM) show periodic bright and dark microstripes that can be clearly matched to the ferroelectric domains imaged with PFM. AFM measurements performed prior and after the mirror electron microscopy experiment exclude the contribution of topography in the MEM contrast and confirm the possibility of imaging ferroelectric domains using MEM. This direct imaging mode will open new possibilities -especially when combined with PEEM- for the study of dynamical processes in ferroelectric systems and multiferroics.