Abstract
Piezoresponse force microscopy (PFM) has emerged as a powerful tool for research in ferroelectric and piezoelectric materials. While the vertical PFM (VPFM) mode is well understood and applied at a quantitative level, the lateral PFM (LPFM) mode is rarely quantified, mainly due to the lack of a practical calibration methodology. Here by PFM imaging on a LiNbO3 180 degrees domain wall, we demonstrate a convenient way to achieve simultaneous VPFM and LPFM calibrations. Using these calibrations, we perform a full quantitative VPFM and LPFM measurement on a (001)-cut PbTiO3 single crystal. The measured effective piezoelectric coefficients d(33)(eff) and d(35)(eff) together naturally provide more information on a material's local tensorial electromechanical properties. The proposed approach can be applied to a wide variety of ferroelectric and piezoelectric systems. Published by AIP Publishing.