Ferroelectric materials have remained one of the major focal points of condensed matter
physics and materials science for over 50 years. In the last 20 years, the development of …

The development of electron and scanning probe microscopies in the second half of the
twentieth century has produced spectacular images of the internal structure and composition …

Scanning probe microscopy (SPM) techniques have opened the door to nanoscience and
nanotechnology by enabling imaging and manipulation of the structure and functionality of …

Ferroelectric oxides are used in many modern technologies including sensors, actuators,
thin-film memories and energy harvesting. Ferroelectrics of similar composition often show …

Field confinement at the junction between a biased scanning probe microscope's tip and
solid surface enables local probing of various bias-induced transformations, such as …

Abstract Domain walls and phase boundaries are fundamental ingredients of ferroelectrics
and strongly influence their functional properties. Although both interfaces have been …

Universal scaling features of polarization switching are established experimentally in rather
different classes of disordered ferroelectrics: in well‐studied lead‐zirconate titanate (PZT) …

Monitoring the charged defect concentration at the nanoscale is of critical importance for
both the fundamental science and applications of ferroelectrics. However, up‐to‐date, high …

Consecutive stochastic 90° polarization switching events, clearly resolved in recent
experiments, are described by a nucleation and growth multistep model. It extends the …

Piezoresponse force microscopy (PFM) has emerged as a powerful tool to characterize
piezoelectric, ferroelectric, and multiferroic materials on the nanometer level. Much of the …