Quantification of polarization distribution from polarizing light microscopy images of ferroelectric single crystals

Qualification of polarization can be realized either on a macroscopic scale as an average property by P-E hysteresis measurements or on a nano/micro scale by piezoelectric force microscopy,transmission electron microscopy,scanning electron microscopy,and so on.However,visualization and qualification of polarization distribution in the micron to millimeter scale is still a challenge.Polarizing light microscopy(PLM)is often used in the study of ferroelectric domain structures mainly for domain patterns.A phe-nomenon called“chromatic polarization”has been observed in transparent ferroelectric crystals by using a crossed-PLM system viewed with white light,which contains rich information about local polariza-tion distribution.In this study,an automatic full-angle light intensity detection(AFALID)algorithm com-bined with colorimetry is developed to analyze the distribution of nonuniform local spontaneous polar-ization distribution in transparent ferroelectric single crystals.Temperature-dependent spontaneous po-larizations from the color analysis for PMN-0.36PT single crystals with single tetragonal domain state are in good coincidence with those extracted from temperature-dependent hysteresis loops and pyroelectric current measurements.We further apply this method to quantify the nonuniform domain distributions with nano-indentations.This non-contact and non-destructive characterization can provide fast and au-tomatic detection of polarization distributions in ferroelectric materials.