Ultraviolet laser induced sub-micron periodic domain formation in congruent undoped lithium niobate crystals

• Main Authors: Sones, C.L (Author), Valdivia, C.E (Author), Scott, J.G (Author), Mailis, S. (Author), Eason, R.W (Author), Scrymgeour, D.A (Author), Gopalan, V. (Author), Jungk, T. (Author), Soergel, E. (Author)
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2005.
• Subjects: Article
• Online Access: Get fulltext

We report the formation of ordered sub-micron periodic surface domains on the -z face of congruent undoped lithium niobate single crystals induced by pulsed ultraviolet laser illumination of the sample faces under specific irradiation conditions. We demonstrate the utility of this simple light-induced technique for achieving periodic domain inversion and investigate the nature and spatial structure of these nano-domains by scanning force microscopy. We also demonstrate subsequent re-inversion of a small region of these light-induced nano-domains using scanning force microscopy.