SINGLE-DOMAIN LAYERS FORMED IN MULTIDOMAIN LITAO3 BY PROTON-EXCHANGE AND HEAT-TREATMENT

Proton exchange and subsequent heat treatment can yield single-domain layers at the surfaces of initially multidomain z-cut LiTaO3. The thic kness of these single-domain layers is equal to the thickness of the d omain-inverted layer that the same processing parameters cause in init ially single-domain samples. This letter also describes how the domain structure develops when heat treatment is carried out above the Curie temperature. The results are discussed in relation to a recently prop osed model for the domain-inversion mechanism.