Advanced Materials, Vol.27, No.41, 6371-6371, 2015
Ultrafast Terahertz Gating of the Polarization and Giant Nonlinear Optical Response in BiFeO3 Thin Films
Terahertz pulses are applied as an all-optical bias to ferroelectric thin-film BiFeO3 while monitoring the time-dependent ferroelectric polarization through its nonlinear optical response. Modulations in the intensity of the second harmonic light generated by the film correspond to on-off ratios of 220x gateable on femtosecond timescales. Polarization modulations comparable to the built-in static polarization are observed.