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Updated: Aug 19, 2026

Visualizing Uniaxial-strain Manipulation of Antiferromagnetic Domains in Fe1+YTe Using a Spin-polarized Scanning Tunneling Microscope
Published on: March 24, 2019
Surface-stimulated nucleation of reverse domains in ferroelectrics
G Gerra1, A K Tagantsev, N Setter
1Ceramics Laboratory, Ecole Polytechnique Fédéral de Lausanne (EPFL), CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland. guido.gerra@epfl.ch
Abstract:
We present a model for reverse domain nucleation in ferroelectrics, which takes into account ferroelectric-electrode coupling in both homogeneous and random cases. The model provides a solution to the coercivity paradox--i.e., the large discrepancy between the observed and predicted coercive fields, common to many systems. We demonstrate the possibility of not thermally activated nucleation of reverse domains. We find that small inhomogeneities in the ferroelectric-electrode interface may lead to an exponentially wide spectrum of waiting times for switching. The model predicts that switching is facilitated near morphotropic phase boundaries in perovskite-type ferroelectrics.
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