Origin of the up, down hysteresis offsets observed from polarization-graded ferroelectric materials

Up and down hysteresis offsets were observed in polarization-graded ferroelectrics. The polarization gradients were achieved by imposing temperature gradients across a bulk ferroelectric material near its Curie temperature. In the absence of temperature gradients, no hysteresis offsets were observed, ruling out extraneous sources as the cause of the aberrant behavior, thereby establishing the origin of the offsets in the class of polarization-graded ferroelectric devices. (C) 2001 American Institute of Physics.