We report on low-energy electron microscopy imaging of ferroelectric domains with submicron resolution. Periodic strips of up and down-polarized ferroelectric domains in bismuth ferrite -a room temperature multiferroic- serve as a model system to com
pare low-energy electron microscopy with the established piezoresponse force microscopy. The results confirm the possibility of full-field imaging of ferroelectric domains with short acquisition times by exploiting the sensitivity of ultraslow electrons to small variations of the electric potential near surfaces in the mirror operation mode.
