Influence of ferroelectric domain walls on the Raman scattering process in lithium tantalate and niobate

Opt Lett. 2012 Mar 15;37(6):1032-4. doi: 10.1364/OL.37.001032.

Abstract

We report changes in the Raman spectra at ferroelectric domain walls in near-stoichiometric LiNbO3 and stoichiometric LiTaO3. We find a decrease of intensity for the regular bulk Raman peaks along with increases of intensity in spectral regions that correspond to phonons, which propagate at an angle with respect to the incident light. In the backscattering geometry, such modes are not supported in the bulk crystal due to momentum conservation. We confirm that these changes are due to the domain wall itself and are independent of intrinsic defects or charging effects.