Creation of domains and domain patterns on the nonpolar surface of Sr$_x$Ba$_{1-x}$Nb$_2$O$_6$ crystals by atomic force microscopy

Microdomains and microdomain patterns have been recorded by applying dc voltages to the probe of an atomic force microscope contacting the nonpolar surface in a barium-strontium niobate ferroelectric crystal. Processes of the formation of microdomains have been investigated. It has been shown that the frontal growth of domains on the nonpolar surface is described by a viscous-friction-type law. The features of the formation of stable domains associated with the back-switching effects have been revealed. Oppositely oriented domains (“head-to-head” and “tail-to-tail”) have been obtained in polydomain crystals. Domain gratings with the reciprocal vector $G =2\pi/\Lambda$ (where $\Lambda= 3.6$ and $8$ $\mu$m is the grating period), which is parallel and perpendicular to the polar $Z$ axis, have been written by the vector lithography method. Gratings with $\mathbf G\parallel Z$, which form a system of 180$^\circ$ linear domains of opposite signs (head to head and tail to tail), hold for no less than several days.