Correlated polarization-switching kinetics in bulk polycrystalline ferroelectrics: A self-consistent mesoscopic switching model

Abstract

Analysis of statistical distributions and auto- and cross correlations of polarization and electric field during the field-driven polarization reversal in a bulk polycrystalline ferroelectric is performed. A mesoscopic switching model is used which accounts self-consistently for the development of depolarization fields. Correlations mediated by electrostatic fields are shown to be mostly isotropic and short range at the typical scale of the grain size which is explained by an effective screening via adapting bound charges. The short-range screening clarifies the paradoxical ability of common statistical concepts neglecting the feedback effect of depolarization fields to adequately describe the polarization switching kinetics. The statistical distribution of the local electric field magnitudes is continuously spreading in the course of the global polarization reversal due to mismatching of both dielectric tensor and spontaneous polarization at grain boundaries. The increasing field dispersion substantially contributes to the well-known deceleration of the polarization reversal at long times.