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arXiv · 2508.21612

Rapid heat assisted polarization reversal in ferroelectric thin films

Rekikua Alemayehu·Steffen Zeuschner·Alexander von Reppert·Matthias Roessle·Marin Alexe·Matias Bargheer
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Abstract

We demonstrate that switching of ferroelectric thin-films sandwiched between metallic electrodes can be controlled by laser-assisted heating, reminiscent of heat-assisted magnetic recording. We employ electrical switching cycles that quantify the electrically switchable remanent polarization $P_\mathrm{r}$ and show that 300\,ns voltage pulses alone change the polarization by less than $\Delta P P_\mathrm{r}$ of the average polarization. The transient average temperature modeled by the heat equation can rationalize the polarization change observed for different relative timing $\Delta t$ of the laser pulse, if it arrives before the electrical pulse.

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Rekikua Alemayehu, Steffen Zeuschner, Alexander von Reppert, Matthias Roessle, Marin Alexe, Matias Bargheer. 2025-08-29. Rapid heat assisted polarization reversal in ferroelectric thin films. https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.21612

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