The low-field ferroelectric switching behaviour of barium titanate

Using single-crystal barium titanate with liquid electrodes, the pyroelectric effect has been used in a technique to extend the measurements of ferroelectric switching times to low fields. In the field range studied (0·2 ts > 10-4 sec) two significant transitions have been found in the switching behaviour at 0·54 kv cm-1 and 0·3 kv cm-1, appearing experimentally as discrete changes in the activation field. They have been shown to be due respectively to a modification in the nucleation mechanism of reversed domains and to the onset of charge compensation behind the moving domain walls.