The size effect in ferroelectrics is treated as a competition between the geometrical symmetry of the ferroelectric sample and its crystalline symmetry. The manifestation of this competition is shown to be polarization rotation, which is driven by temperature and/or size variations, thus providing a qualitative indication of intrinsic finite size effect on ferroelectrics. The concept is demonstrated in a simple case of PbTiO3 nanowires having their axis parallel to [111]C direction, where the size effect is shown to include polarization rotation and an additional phase transition.
@article{arxiv.1008.1228,
title = {A qualitative test for intrinsic size effect on ferroelectric phase transitions},
author = {Jin Wang and Alexander K. Tagantsev and Nava Setter},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1008.1228},
year = {2010}
}