SHG and Oxide Electronics – Thin Films and Heterostructures

Summary

This chapter discusses the investigation of crystalline thin films and heterostructures of functional ferroic materials by nonlinear optical techniques in more detail. Scanning probe techniques, thin‐film X‐ray diffraction, and scanning tunnelling electron microscopy are typical methods applied to verify the quality and functionality on length scales ranging from atomic distances to millimetres. The vast majority of nonlinear optical investigations on epitaxial thin films with magnetic order were conducted on ferro‐ and ferrimagnets. An investigation of the hysteretic poling behaviour of vinylidene fluoride‐trifluoroethylene copolymer films was among the first investigations of the ferroelectric state in a film by SHG. The chapter focuses on the development and application of SHG as in situ characterisation tool for probing the properties and functionalities of oxide thin films and heterostructures during their assembly in the growth chamber. It also focuses on ferroelectricity as functional model property.