Stress-induced polarization-graded ferroelectrics

Polarization-graded ferroelectrics and their electrically active embodiments, graded ferroelectric devices and transpacitors, have been formed from a variety of material systems, both by grading the composition of the ferroelectric and by imposing temperature gradients normal to the electrode surfaces. In this letter, we show how these same devices can be formed from homogeneous ferroelectric films of lead strontium titanate by imposing stress gradients on the material normal to their electrode surfaces. (C) 2002 American Institute of Physics.