Disentangling elastic relaxation and ferroelectric domain contributions to in plane X-ray scattering profile: A necessity in strained ferroelectric superlattices

Abstract Ferroelectric nanodomains give rise to diffuse X-ray scattering peaks in ultrathin films. Here we study a Pb(Zr0.2Ti0.8)O3/SrTiO3 superlattice, using X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy, We show that both elastic relaxation and ferroelectric nanodomain pattern can contribute to distinct satellite peaks in the X-ray scattering pattern. We show that transmission electron microscopy is required to disentangle elastic relaxation and ferroelectric domain contributions to the in plane X-ray scattering profile.