Picometer polar atomic displacements in strontium titanate determined by resonant X-ray diffraction.

ABSTRACT: Physical properties of crystalline materials often manifest themselves as atomic displacements either away from symmetry positions or driven by external fields. Especially the origin of multiferroic or magnetoelectric effects may be hard to ascertain as the related displacements can reach the detection limit. Here we present a resonant X-ray crystal structure analysis technique that shows enhanced sensitivity to minute atomic displacements. It is applied to a recently found crystalline modification of strontium titanate that forms in single crystals under electric field due to oxygen vacancy migration. The phase has demonstrated unexpected properties, including piezoelectricity and pyroelectricity, which can only exist in non-centrosymmetric crystals. Apart from that, the atomic structure

SUBMITTER: Richter C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5766522 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature