Coherent Ferroelectric Switching by Atomic Force Microscopy

General energy approaches have been applied to study the single-domain polarization reversal induced by the voltage-modulated Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) in ferroelectric single crystals and thin films. Topographic analysis of energy surfaces in the subspace of domain dimensions is performed, and energy evolutions under an external bias are elucidated. This has let to successfully describe all stages of the AFM switching, including formations of a reversed domain, its growth in a bulk, domain contact instabilities near an electrode, and pure sidewise expansions in a film.