Formation of Stripe Domain Structures by Pulse Laser Irradiation of LiNbO₃Crystals

Abstract

The formation of quasi-regular stripe nanodomain structure induced by ultraviolet pulse laser irradiation was studied in single crystalline congruent lithium niobate LiNbO3. It has been shown that the domain structure with average period about 4 μm consists of “straight” and “wave-like” nanodomain rays. The scanning electron microscopy allows us to reveal that the rays represent quasi-periodic arrays of individual nanodomains with average size 50–200 nm and period 100–500 nm. The spatial frequency multiplication of quasi-regular structures has been revealed.