IMAGING OF DOMAIN-INVERTED GRATINGS IN LINBO3 BY ELECTROSTATIC FORCE MICROSCOPY

Ferroelectric domains in LiNbO3, have been investigated by means of el ectrostatic force microscopy. Polarization-inverted gratings with 4 mu m periodicity were fabricated by titanium diffusion into both +c and -c faces of single-domain LiNbO3 crystals. The distribution of the ele ctric held in the vicinity of the sample surface was measured using sc anning probe microscopy. The electrostatic force image was found to co rrelate with the shape of the domain-inverted profile observed by scan ning electron and optical microscopies. (C) 1997 American Institute of Physics.