Ferroelectric domain engineering by focused infrared femtosecond pulses

Chen, Xin; Karpinski, Paweł; Shvedov, Vladlen G.; Koynov, Kaloian; Wang, Bingxia; Trull, J.; Cojocaru, C.; Królikowski, Wiesław; Sheng, Yan

doi:10.1063/1.4932199

Cited by 86 publications

(53 citation statements)

References 34 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Recently, a promising all-optical domain inversion process was demonstrated with focused fs-laser pulses in LiNbO 3 . [21][22][23] LiNbO 3 is transparent in this wavelength range, i.e., linear absorption can be neglected. The focused infrared (IR) pulses cause local heating by multiple photon absorption, leading to a local reduction of the coercive field and to an internal field that exceeds the threshold field of domain nucleation.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These domains have a conical shape, and the maximum reported domain length is about 60 lm, which is shorter than the thickness of the crystal used. 21 The domain length is limited in this process because the laser focus is elongated in the depth of the crystal due to spherical aberrations induced by the high refractive index n of LiNbO 3 , and it also splits into multiple foci because of birefringence. 24,25 Here, we present a domain inversion approach in MgOdoped LiNbO 3 that is different from the methods mentioned above.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Local domain inversion in MgO-doped lithium niobate by pyroelectric field-assisted femtosecond laser lithography

Imbrock

Hanafi

Ayoub

et al. 2018

Applied Physics Letters

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We explore a physical approach to invert ferroelectric domains in the volume of MgO-doped lithium niobate crystals without any external electric field. Permanent defect structures are created by focused infrared femtosecond laser pulses below the material surface along the polar axis followed by a thermal treatment. This procedure leads to an inversion of ferroelectric domains beneath and above the laser-induced filaments up to the surfaces of the crystal. All domain walls are straight and up to 800 μm long. We measure the domain width in dependence on the length of the filaments and the writing energy. The smallest achieved domain width and the domain spacing is 1 μm. We propose a model taking into account the temperature dependence of the pyroelectric field and thermally activated bulk charges to explain the mechanism of domain inversion. Our findings pave the way to all-optical printing of arbitrary ferroelectric domain structures for nonlinear photonic applications.

show abstract

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Local domain inversion in MgO-doped lithium niobate by pyroelectric field-assisted femtosecond laser lithography

Imbrock

Hanafi

Ayoub

et al. 2018

Applied Physics Letters

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Meanwhile, the nonlinear Cherenkov radiation (NCR) is a nondestructive nonlinear measurement with high precision in probing domain wall nonlinearities [15][16][17][18][19]. Analogous to the Cherenkov radiation emitted by relativistic charged particles, the nonlinear polarization (NP) which is driven by the fundamental wave (FW) generates the NCR when its phase velocity exceeds that of the harmonic wave (HW) in nonlinear media [20,21]. Since the NCR generated by domain walls is much more significant than domain region owing to the confinement of NP, the structural and symmetrical properties of domain walls can be measured reliably and efficiently.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Probe of symmetry reduction at domain walls by nonlinear Cherenkov measurement

Liu¹,

Zheng²,

Zhao³

et al. 2016

Opt. Express

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We report on the investigation of symmetrical properties of lithium niobate (LiNbO₃) domain walls utilizing the nonlinear Cherenkov radiation. Compared with LiNbO₃ bulk crystals, new nonzero elements of the χ⁽²⁾ tensor at domain walls are found by the Cherenkov second harmonic generation (CSHG) and Cherenkov sum frequency generation (CSFG) measurement. Experimentally, we demonstrate the symmetry reduction of domain walls, where the mirror inversion symmetry of LiNbO₃ lattice is broken while the threefold rotational symmetry still remains.

show abstract

“…The beam was initially focused on the front (-Z) surface of the crystal. Then the sample was translated along the Zdirection so that the position of the focal region moved from the -Z toward the +Z-surface with an average speed of v=10m/s [5]. Figure 1(b) illustrates the physical principle of our in situ diagnostic of the domain inversion process.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Two-dimensional domain structures in Lithium Niobate via domain inversion with ultrafast light

Chen¹,

Karpinski²,

Shvedov³

et al. 2016

Photon. Lett. Poland

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract-Periodic inversion of ferroelectric domains is realized in a lithium niobate crystal by focused femtosecond near-infrared laser beam. One and two-dimensional domain patterns are fabricated. Quasiphase matched frequency doubling of 815nm light is demonstrated in a channel waveguide with an inscribed periodic domain pattern with conversion efficiency as high as 17.45%.Lithium niobate (LiNbO 3 ) waveguides play a significant role in integrating many optical devices due to excellent electro-optic, acousto-optic, and nonlinear properties of this important material. In nonlinear interactions such as frequency conversion the phases of interacting waves can be synchronized in LiNbO 3 waveguide through the process of quasi-phase matching (QPM) [1], which requires a periodic ferroelectric domain inversion to change the sign of the second-order nonlinear susceptibility at every coherence length. A common method used for ferroelectric domain engineering is electric field poling [2], where a spatially modulated electric field is applied along the polar axis of the crystal. This method involves a photolithographic process to fabricate periodic electrodes and application of sequence of high voltage pulses to induce ferroelectric domain flipping. Apart from its complexity, this technique suffers from the restrictions imposed by the crystallographic orientation of the crystal. Consequently, while the Z-cut crystals are easily poled, other orientations require sophisticated design of electrodes and involve etching of the crystal [3].There have been considerable efforts in developing alternative methods of ferroelectric domain reversal to overcome the drawbacks of traditional electric field poling. In particular, the optical poling uses intense laser * E-mail: yan.sheng@anu.edu.au irradiation to either assist or directly induce domain inversion [4]. This approach becomes particularly interesting because of its unique advantages. For example, it overcomes the restriction that the electric field must be applied along the polar axis of the crystal. In addition, the light field can be manipulated more accurately with a resolution up to the diffraction limit. Therefore, it enables one to fabricate fine ferroelectric domains with better defined details than those produced by electric-field poling alone. The UV radiations are usually used in direct laser poling as their strong absorption by ferroelectric can produce a very high local temperature gradient for domain inversion. However, such a strong absorption of UV light restricts inverted domains into a shallow surface layer (few hundred nanometers). This severely limits the application of such an optically created domain pattern. So far no report has been made on the performance of these structures as a QPM frequency convertor.In this work we demonstrate that the inversion of ferroelectric domains can be efficiently realized by using a tightly focused femtosecond infrared laser inside the LiNbO3 crystal without application of any electric field. As the LiNbO3 is transparent in...

show abstract

Ferroelectric domain engineering by focused infrared femtosecond pulses

Cited by 86 publications

References 34 publications

Local domain inversion in MgO-doped lithium niobate by pyroelectric field-assisted femtosecond laser lithography

Local domain inversion in MgO-doped lithium niobate by pyroelectric field-assisted femtosecond laser lithography

Probe of symmetry reduction at domain walls by nonlinear Cherenkov measurement

Two-dimensional domain structures in Lithium Niobate via domain inversion with ultrafast light

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About