American Institute of Physics, Applied Physics Letters, 25(96), p. 252903
DOI: 10.1063/1.3456729
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BiFeO3 thin films with various thicknesses were grown epitaxially on (001) LaSrAlO4 single crystal substrates using pulsed laser deposition. High resolution x-ray diffraction measurements revealed that a tetragonal-like phase with c-lattice constant ~4.65 {Å} is stabilized by a large misfit strain. Besides, a rhombohedral-like phase with c-lattice constant ~3.99 {Å} was also detected at film thickness of ~50 nm and above to relieve large misfit strains. In-plane piezoelectric force microscopy studies showed clear signals and self-assembled nanoscale stripe domain structure for the tetragonal-like regions. These findings suggest a complex picture of nanoscale domain patterns in BiFeO3 thin films subjected to large compressive strains. ; Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures