American Institute of Physics, Applied Physics Letters, 16(104), p. 161606
DOI: 10.1063/1.4873125
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The hysteretic piezoelectric response in LaAlO3/SrTiO3 heterostructures can provide important insights into the mechanism for interfacial conductance and its metastability under various conditions. We have performed a variety of nonlocal piezoelectric force microscopy experiments on 3 unit cell LaAlO3/SrTiO3 heterostructures. A hysteretic piezoresponse is observed under various environmental and driving conditions. The hysteresis is suppressed when either the sample is placed in vacuum or the interface is electrically grounded. We present a simple physical model which can account for the observed phenomena. ; Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures; Special Issue of journal of FERROELECTRICS on Multifunctional Ferroics and Related Materials in honor of Dr. Amar Bhalla, 2012