Field-Induced Evolution of As-Grown Domain Structure in Annealed Calcium Orthovanadate Crystal

The field-induced evolution of as-grown domain structure was studied in an annealed calcium orthovanadate (CVO) crystal under application of the electric field pulses at elevated temperature using various domain imaging methods. It was shown that the evolution of the domain structure with charged domain walls (CDWs) in the crystal bulk under the action of the electric field represented the sideways growth of large domains in the bulk and the appearance of unstable and stable domains at the surface. The sideways domain growth in the bulk was caused by the lowest charge density at the domain edges. The screening retardation facilitated the appearance of the ledges at the CDWs, which grew in the external field and became stable after touching the polar surface. The rare ledges that appeared far from CDW edge interrupted growth in the vicinity of the polar surface and backswitched completely after the field switch-off. The obtained effects were considered in terms of the kinetic approach. The finite element method was used to calculate the distribution of the residual depolarization field near the domain. The demonstrated facilitating of the domain switching by annealing in a calcium-rich atmosphere shows the way to create the periodic domain structure in CVO.