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Domain Wall Motion
The relationship between polarization orientation and surface potential can also be established from the observation of domain wall motion. Fig. 1 shows SSPM images of c+ - c- domain structures obtained at a 12 h interval. It can be seen that the shrinking of the negative domain results in a dark rim in the direction of domain wall motion. It should be noted here that shrinking occurred spontaneously rather than under applied tip bias or lateral bias, and thus charge transfer from tip to the surface is minimized. The formation of the rim is ascribed to the slow relaxation of screening charges after the displacement of domain wall. Simple considerations imply that formation of a negative rim in the direction of wall motion is possible only if domain related potential features are determined by the screening charges.
