Analysis of polarization offsets observed for temperature-graded ferroelectric materials

• A transverse Ising model is developed to analyze the polarization offsets phenomena in temperature-graded ferroelectrics.
• A function of two-spin exchange interaction strength has been introduced to describe the ferroelectric distortion.
• The experimental observations have been successfully reproduced qualitatively.
• Ferroelectric distortion and quantum fluctuation effect are the two important factors to influence the polarization offsets.

A transverse Ising model in the framework of the mean field approximation is developed to analyze the polarization offsets phenomena in temperature-graded ferroelectric materials. A function of two-spin exchange interaction strength has been introduced to describe the ferroelectric distortion due to the distribution of temperature gradients in materials. Comparisons of the computational results with the experimental data reveal some fundamental factors in the formation of polarization offsets. It is shown that ferroelectric distortion has influenced much on polarization offsets in temperature-graded ferroelectric materials. When quantum fluctuation effect as well as ferroelectric distortion is considered, we have successfully reproduced the experimental observations qualitatively, especially for the indistinguishable polarization offsets from the background at small temperature gradients, which were not successfully reproduced in prior theoretical studies.