Direct evidence of correlation between the second harmonic generation anisotropy patterns and the polarization orientation of perovskite ferroelectric

Abstract For ferroelectric materials, where the polar state breaks the inversion symmetry, second harmonic generation is a useful tool to prove their ferroelectric properties. However, the correlation between the anisotropy patterns and the polarization orientation of the ferroelectric domains has not been clarified yet. In this work, we systematically investigated this correlation in a typical perovskite oxide ferroelectric, Barium Titanate (BaTiO 3 ) crystal, by second harmonic generation and the piezoresponse force microscopy technique. The evolution of polarization-dependent anisotropy patterns proves that there is a linear relationship between the rotation angle of second harmonic generation anisotropy patterns and the polarization angle of BaTiO 3 single crystals. It is a direct evidence illustrating that the polarization of BaTiO 3 crystal can be qualitatively identified in 0°–180° by second harmonic generation technology. This work gives a glance at improving a nonintrusive and convenient method to identify the polarization of perovskite ferroelectric materials.