Spectromicroscopy of ferroelectric and magnetoelectric nanostructures

We present a spectromicroscopy study (LEEM, XAS- and energy-filtered PEEM) of ferroelectric and magnetoelectric nanostructures written by Piezoforce Microscopy. In thin ferroelectric PbZrxTi1-xO3 (PZT) and BaTiO3 (BTO) layers, artificial ferroelectric 180 domains have been written by Piezoforce Microscopy. The opposite polarization states in the 180 domains produce strong changes in the surface electronic structure, which have directly been observed as lateral contrast in both threshold PEEM and LEEM in mirror and diffraction mode. Analyzing the energies of emitted/reflected electrons, the changes in the surface potential (workfunction) can be determined, allowing for a quantification of the ferroelectric state. Furthermore we present an energy-filtered PEEM study of nanostructured magnetoelectric BTO/CFO samples grown by MBE.