Ultrafast Polarization Switching in BaTiO3 Nanomaterials: Combined Density Functional Theory and Coupled Oscillator Study

The challenge of achieving ultrafast switching of electric polarization in ferroelectric materials remains unsolved as there is no experimental evidence of such switching to date. In this study, we developed an enhanced model that describes switching within a two-dimensional space of generalized coordinates at THz pulses. Our findings indicate that stable switching in barium titanate cannot be achieved through a single linearly polarized pulse. When the intensity of the linearly polarized pulse reaches a certain threshold, the sample experiences depolarization but not stable switching. Our study also reveals that phonon friction plays a minor role in the switching dynamics and provides an estimate of the optimal parameters for the perturbing pulse with the lowest intensity that results in the depolarization of an initially polarized sample.