X-ray photoelectron diffraction study of ultrathin PbTiO3 films

Full hemispherical X-ray photoelectron diffraction (XPD) experiments have been performed to investigate at the atomic level ultrathin epitaxial c-axis oriented PbTiO3 (PTO) films grown on Nb-doped SrTiO3 substrates. Comparison between experiment and theory allows us to identify a preferential ferroelectric polarization state in a 60 Å -thick PTO film. Multiple scattering theory based on a cluster-model [ Phys. Rev. B 63, 075404 (2001)] is used to simulate the experiments.This project has been supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation through the National Center of Competence in Research “Materials with Novel Electronic Properties-MaNEP”, and in part by the Office of Science, Materials Sciences Division, of the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC03-76SF00098.Peer reviewe