Bulk photovoltaic effect modulated by ferroelectric polarization back-switching

Short-circuit photocurrent due to bulk photovoltaic effect displays an oscillatory dependence on the polarization state of light. Here, we explore how the ferroelectric polarization direction in h-LuMnO3 crystals affects the oscillating short-circuit photocurrent. It is shown that after prepoling the crystal at saturation, at remanence, the direction and amplitude of photocurrent oscillations are no longer dictated by prepoling voltage but are largely modulated by polarization back-switching, here ruled by the imprint field. Thus, the light polarization dependence of photocurrent is also ruled by the imprint field. The impact of these effects on the determination of the Glass coefficients of the material is discussed.Financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (10.13039/501100011033), through the Severo Ochoa FUNFUTURE (No. CEX2019-000917-S); the TED2021-130453B-C21 (AEI/FEDER, EU), PID2020-118479RB-I00 (AEI/FEDER, EU), and PID2019-107727RB-I00 (AEI/FEDER, EU) projects; and from CSIC through the i-LINK (No. LINKA20338) program is acknowledged. Project supported by a 2020 Leonardo Grant for Researchers and Cultural Creators, BBVA Foundation. Y.S. is financially supported by China Scholarship Council (CSC) through No. 201806410010. The work of Y.S. has been done as part of her Ph.D. program in Materials Science at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.With funding from the Spanish government through the ‘Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence’ accreditation (CEX2019-000917-S).Peer reviewe