Investigation of interface properties by nanoscale elastic modulus mapping.

We present a method for investigating the spatial changes of elastic moduli in a nm-scale vicinity of interfaces. The method is demonstrated on twin walls in PbTiO(3) single crystals. It is revealed that the region near the twin wall is significantly softer than the two domains surrounding it. A comparison with finite element simulations relates this effect to an anelastic relaxation due to point defect accumulation around the twin wall. Local softening around the twin wall can affect the overall elastic modulus in thin films and nanostructured ferroelectric materials, in which the average distance between twin walls is smaller than the thickness of the softer region.