The actual mechanism of polarization switching in ferroelectrics remains a puzzle for many decades, since the usually estimated barrier for nucleation and growth is insurmountable (“paradox of the coercive field”). To analyze the mechanisms of the nucleation we consider the exactly solvable case of a ferroelectric film with a “dead” layer at the interface with electrodes. The classical nucleation is easier in this case but still impossible, since the calculated barrier is huge. We have found that the interaction between the nuclei is, however, long range, hence one has to study an ensemble of the nuclei. We show that there are ensembles of small (embryonic) nuclei that grow without the barrier. We submit that the interaction between nuclei is the key point for solving the paradox.

• Received 19 May 2000

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.85.4614