STATICS AND DYNAMICS OF FERROELECTRIC DOMAINS STUDIED WITH SCANNING FORCE MICROSCOPY

Scanning force microscopy for studying ferroelectric domain structures is applied. The force microscope was operated in the contact static m ode (repulsive force regime) and in the noncontact dynamic mode (attra ctive force regime). These two techniques were applied to study cleava ge faces of ferroelectric crystals of GASH (guanidinium aluminum sulfa te hexahydrate) and TGS (triglycine sulfate) crystals. Using the conta ct mode, the positive and negative domains are revealed by opposite co ntrast. In the dynamic noncontact mode, the domain walls are revealed. The experimental setup allows in situ experiments to study the dynami cs of ferroelectric domains. First results on the time dependence of t he domains motion in TGS will be presented.