The voltage generated in a noncentrosymmetric crystal due to the bulk photovoltaic effect (BPE) can greatly exceed the energy gap, however, the light energy conversion efficiency is extremely low. Here we show that the BPE is remarkably enhanced in the case of thin films. The measurements of the BPE in heteroepitaxial single domain ferroelectric BaTiO3 thin films reveal the enhancement of both photoinduced electric field and conversion efficiencies of the BPE by more than 4 orders of magnitude. Besides the fundamental aspect, our results indicate the potential for the use of the BPE in photovoltaic applications. ©2014 American Physical Society

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.90.161409

Citation:

A. Zenkevich et. al. "Giant bulk photovoltaic effect in thin ferroelectric BaTiO3 films" Phys. Rev. B 90, 161409(R); https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.90.161409