Optical spectroscopy study on the photo-response in multiferroic BiFeO3

We investigate the underlying mechanism of the photostriction effect in single-crystalline BiFeO3 by transmission measurements in the infrared and visible frequency range under continuous illumination with a green 532 nm). The small photo-induced changes in the transmission spectrum reveal three well-defined absorption features at 1.22 eV, 1.66 eV, and 2.14 eV, which we assign to charge-transfer excitons and in-gap defect states probably related to oxygen vacancies. The intensity of the three absorption features follows a linear dependence on the illumination intensity for an irradiance above 90 W/m(2). Published by AIP Publishing.