Lateral signals in piezoresponse force microscopy at domain boundaries of ferroelectric crystals.

In piezoresponse force microscopy a lateral signal at the domain boundaries is occasionally observed. In recent years, a couple of experiments have been reported and varying explanations for the origin of this lateral signal have been proposed. Additionally, elaborated theoretical modeling for this particular issue has been carried out. Here we present experimental data obtained on different crystallographic cuts of LiNbO3, BaTiO3, and KTiOPO4 single crystals. We could thereby rule out some of the explanations proposed so far, introduce another possible mechanism, and quantitatively compare our results to the existing modeling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]