Domain-enhanced interlayer coupling in ferroelectric/paraelectric superlattices

We investigate the ferroelectric phase transition and domain formation in a periodic superlattice consisting of alternate ferroelectric (FE) and paraelectric (PE) layers of nanometric thickness. We find that the polarization domains formed in the different FE layers can interact with each other via the PE layers. By coupling the electrostatic equations with those obtained by minimizing the Ginzburg-Landau functional, we calculate the critical temperature of transition T-c as a function of the FE/PE superlattice wavelength Lambda and quantitatively explain the recent experimental observation of a thickness dependence of the ferroelectric transition temperature in KTaO3/KNbO3 strained-layer superlattices.