Structural dynamics of PZT thin films at the nanoscale

When an electric field is applied to a ferroelectric the crystal lattice spacing changes as a result of the converse piezoelectric effect. Although the piezoelectric effect and polarization switching have been investigated for decades there has been no direct nanosecond-scale visualization of these phenomena in solid crystalline ferroelectrics. Synchrotron x-rays allow the polarization switching and the crystal lattice distortion to be visualized in space and time on scales of hundreds of nanometers and hundreds of picoseconds using ultrafast x-ray microdiffraction. Here we report the polarization switching visualization and polarization domain wall velocities for Pb(Zr0.45Ti0.55)O3 thin film ferroelectric capacitors studied by timeresolved x-ray microdiffraction.