Electrocaloric Induced Retarded Ferroelectric Switching

Ferroelectric (FE) switching in bulk materials, at modest electric fields, is a relatively fast process, occurring on time scales of microseconds and less. A secondary retarded switching phenomenon also occurs on time scales of seconds and has previously been attributed to defect induced elevated energy barriers between polarisation states. As ferroelectric switching is a thermally activated process, the barrier heights are also affected by temperature, which is not constant in ferroelectric materials due to the electrocaloric (EC) effect. Here, an additional EC induced retardation mechanism is proposed whereby EC induced temperature changes repeatedly temporarily prevent further FE switching during cooling cycles. Published by AIP Publishing.