Photoinduced hysteresis changes and optical storage in (Pb,La)(Zr,Ti)O3 thin films and ceramics

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Abstract
Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 and (Pb,La)(Zr,Ti)O3 thin films and bulk ceramics are shown to exhibit two distinct, but related types of photoinduced changes in their hysteresis behavior: (1) a photoinduced suppression of the switchable polarization and (2) a photoinduced voltage shift. Both effects give rise to stable and reproducible hysteresis changes and, thus, either could be the basis of an optical memory. Both phenomena can be explained by trapping of photogenerated charge at domain boundaries to minimize internal depolarizing fields. The space‐charge field that causes the voltage‐shift effect is primarily due to the migration and subsequent trapping of electrons. However, the thickness dependence of the voltage shift implies that the trapped charge is not confined to the interface. The voltage‐shift kinetics exhibit a stretched‐exponential dependence, whereas the polarization‐suppression effect follows an exponential time dependence. However, both effects exhibit similar relaxation times. In addition, the relaxation time for the voltage‐shift effect decreases with increasing light intensity according to a power‐law relationship, τ∝I−n, where 0.67<n<0.75.