Light-induced polarization effect in SrTiO3

Abstract

Optically modulating key material parameters, notably the polarization P or dielectric constant ε, offers a novel approach to enhancing the performance and functionality of electronic devices such as sensors and memristors. The existence of the non-thermal photodielectric effect (NT-PDE) in quantum paraelectric SrTiO3 was confirmed using the relax time distribution method. Among all crystal orientations, the <110> direction exhibits the largest NT-PDE of 26.61% (which is 850.16% of the enhancement effect produced by the thermal effect). Spatially extended symmetric strong lattice distortions lead to the formation of photopolarizable domains (PPD), whose finite lifetime prevents the formation of long-range order, and the PPD generation–annihilation process also triggers regional redistribution, leading to unconventional relaxation processes. This greatly improves the production efficiency of opto-dielectric type devices and provides a strong support and potential application value for the development of next-generation optically driven microelectronic devices.