Ferroelectricity and Giant Bulk Photovoltaic Effect in BaTiO 3 Films at the Nanoscale.

The ferroelectric and photovoltaic properties of BaTiO3films at the nanoscale are considered. The switching and scaling of the coercive field in the hetero epitaxial BaTiO3films with thickness 3–50 nm are investigated in condenser. At the nanoscale there is competing of extrinsic (domain-driven) and intrinsic homogeneous (Landau-Ginzburg) mechanisms. The conversion efficiency of the Bulk Photovoltaic Effect at the nanoscale could be extremely large. It is experimentally shown for heteroepitaxial BaTiO3films with thickness 20 and 40 nm. For nanoscaled BaTiO3films the conversion efficiency is 4,5 orders of magnitude larger as compared to the bulk crystals. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]