On domain switching in deformable ferroelectrics, seen as continua with microstructure (Q5956220)

This paper concerns the phenomenon of domain switching or polarization reversal in deformable ferroelectric bodies. The latter are considered as continua endowed with a vectorial microstructure. Starting from balance laws for such continua and from general thermodynamical statements, the author arrives at the evolution equation for spontaneous electric polarization. This allows him to describe the phenomenon in a quasi-static case by postulating a simple interaction mechanism between spontaneous polarization and the electric field and deformation. This results in the minimization of a functional that reminds us of the micromagnetic theory of ferromagnets. This has also much in common with the vectorial Landau-Ginzburg equation of the order-parameter approach. In the one-dimensional case and for a linearized kinematics of the deformation, this leads to the study of stable relative minimizers, this in turn leading to a simple justification for dielectric hysteresis and observed butterfly loops. On accepting the view of domain walls as sharp interfaces, then the band twin domain morphology typical of many ferroelectrics is recovered.