Surface Proximity Effect, Imprint Memory of Ferroelectric Twins, and Tweed in the Paraelectric Phase of BaTiO(3)

We have used energy-filtered photoemission electron microscopy (PEEM) at the photoemission threshold to carry out a microscopic scale characterization of the surface charge and domain structure of the (001) surface in BaTiO(3). Signatures of ferroelectric and ferroelastic domains, and tweed, dominate the surface structure of BaTiO(3) at room temperature. The surface ferroic signatures are maintained on heating to temperature (~550 K), well above the transition temperature (393 K). This surface proximity effect provides the mechanism for memory of the bulk ferroelectric domain arrangement up to 150 K above T(C) and thus can be considered as a robust fingerprint of the ferroelectric state near the surface. Self-reversal of polarization is observed for the tweed below T(C) and for the surface domains above T(C). Annealing at higher temperature triggers the dynamic tweed which in turn allows a full reorganization of the ferroic domain configuration.