Planar electrode piezoelectric force microscopy to study electric polarization switching in BiFeO3

Piezoelectric force microscopy has been enhanced by coplanar epitaxial electrodes to detect and manipulate the striped ferroelectric domain structure of a multiferroic BiFeO3 thin film grown on single-crystalline DyScO3. Time-resolved imaging revealed ferroelastic (71° and 109°) switching of domains in a needlelike region that grew from one electrode toward the other in a uniform electric field, and demonstrated reversible rotation of the 71° domain stripe orientation in a nonuniform field. Purely ferroelectric (180°) switching was suppressed by the geometry of the electrodes. The extendibility of this apparatus opens the door toward magnetoelectric domain imaging.