Near field optical second harmonic imaging of the polydomain structure of epitaxial PbZrxTi1-xO3 thin films

Near field optical second harmonic microscopy has been applied to imaging of the c/a/c/a polydomain structure of epitaxial PbZrxTi1-xO3 thin films in the 0<x<0.4 range. An uncoated adiabatically tapered fiber tip was employed in our microscope which, according to our previous research [5] could yeild a resolution of up to 80 nm. Experimentally measured near-field second harmonic images have been compared with the results of theoretical calculations. Good agreement between theory and experiment has been demonstrated. Thus, novel optical technique for nanometer scale ferroelectric domain imaging has been developed. © 2001 Materials Research Society.