Spectroscopic Assessments of Domain Texture in Barium Titanate: II. Cathodoluminescence Analysis

An analytical procedure has been developed according to basic principles of electro-stimulated luminescence spectroscopy aimed at quickly visualizing with high spatial resolution the domain texture developed in tetragonal BaTiO₃ (BT) materials. In the first part of the paper, the relative intensity of the cathodoluminescence (CL) emission has been systematically collected from different crystallographic planes of BT single-crystal and modeled as a function of anisotropic crystal properties. In this context, an analytical expression has been put forward for quantitatively describing the response function of the CL probe, which links the intensity emission to refractive indexes and absorption coefficients pertaining to different planes of the perovskitic crystal. In the second part of the paper, the CL method is applied to visualize with nanometer-scale resolution the domain texture developed in a polycrystalline BT sample. This study demonstrates that CL spectroscopy is a valuable and efficient tool for the assessment of domain orientation in ferroelectric materials. The CL method possesses both wide-range screening capacity and the scanning flexibility of conventional scanning electron microscopy, coupled with a spatial resolution that is comparable with that obtainable by scanning probe microscopy techniques.