Higher order ferroic switching induced by scanning force microscopy

We present the observation of ferroelastoelectric switching in a ferroelectric material. It is achieved in barium titanate thin film by simultaneously applying electric field and compressive stress with the tip of a scanning force microscope. For low compressive stresses, the presented measurements reveal classical ferroelectric domain reversal, i.e., the spontaneous polarization is aligned parallel to the applied electric field. However, for high compressive stresses the direction of polarization after switching is antiparallel to the poling field, demonstrating ferroelastoelectric switching.