Very large spontaneous electric polarization in BiFeO3 single crystals at room temperature and its evolution under cycling fields
arXiv:0706.1681 · doi:10.1063/1.2753390
Abstract
Electric polarization loops are measured at room temperature on highly pure BiFeO3 single crystals synthesized by a flux growth method. Because the crystals have a high electrical resistivity, the resulting low leakage currents allow us to measure a large spontaneous polarization reaching 100 microC.cm^{-2}, a value never reported in the bulk. During electric cycling, the slow degradation of the material leads to an evolution of the hysteresis curves eventually preventing full saturation of the crystals.
8 pages, 3 figures