Physical Kinetics of Ferroelectric Hysteresis

The physical kinetics of single domain ferroelectric materials are studied employing Landau-Khalatnikov equation. The resulting hysteretic curves are obtained numerically. The effective coercive electric field is found to be theoretically dependent on the driving amplitude and frequency as observed in the experimental hysteretic measurements of ferroelectric materials. The effects of thermal noise on the polarization switching time are analyzed using the Fokker-Planck kinetic equation. It is found that the effect of thermal noise is rather significant in a single domain of small volume. It is also shown that for low temperatures quantum effects dominate classical thermal effects in inducing polarization switching in a single ferroelectric domain.