Trans-switching in layered ferroelectrics

Trans-switching in layered ferroelectrics | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Physical Sciences - Article Trans-switching in layered ferroelectrics Ramamoorthy Ramesh, Pushpendra Gupta, Sergio Puebla, Fernando Gomez Ortiz, and 17 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8704297/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Ferroelectric materials exhibit a spontaneous electric polarization that can be reversed byan electric field 1 , a property central to non-volatile memories 2,3 , sensors 4 and actuators 5,6 . In most conventional ferroelectric oxides, the polarization originates from a softening of a polar mode 7 . The amplitude of the mode along a given direction couples with the applied field along the same direction 8 . A long-standing challenge has been to achieve controlled switching of the in-plane polarization component using an out-of-plane electric field. We have discovered that a trilinear coupling between the in-plane and out-of-plane polarization, mediated via the octahedral tilts and rotations in the layered ferroelectric Bi 4 Ti 3 O 12 naturally fulfills these requirements and enables trans-switching of the polarization state. In its monoclinic phase, this material hosts a large in-plane polarization (∼ 50 μC cm -2 ) driven by a proper ferroelectric instability, together with smaller out-of-plane polarization (∼ 5 μC cm -2 ) of improper origin, induced by oxygen-octahedral distortions. We demonstrate that in c-axis-oriented epitaxial films the in-plane polarization switches deterministically under an out-of-plane electric field. This cross-coupling between orthogonal polarization components provides a route to transverse manipulation of ferroic order parameters and establishes layered ferroelectrics as a platform for capacitive computing concepts, analogous to the transconductance of modern CMOS electronics. Physical sciences/Materials science/Condensed-matter physics/Ferroelectrics and multiferroics Physical sciences/Materials science/Condensed-matter physics/Electronic properties and materials Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Supplementary Files Supplementary.pdf Trans-switching in layered ferroelectrics Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8704297","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Physical Sciences - Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":581149248,"identity":"209cb92a-8bb8-479f-8b9a-37971e758b9b","order_by":0,"name":"Ramamoorthy 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Portfolio","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":false,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"ejp","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false},"keywords":"","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8704297/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8704297/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"Ferroelectric materials exhibit a spontaneous electric polarization that can be reversed byan electric field\u003csup\u003e1\u003c/sup\u003e, a property central to non-volatile memories\u003csup\u003e2,3\u003c/sup\u003e, sensors\u003csup\u003e4\u003c/sup\u003e and actuators\u003csup\u003e5,6\u003c/sup\u003e. In most conventional ferroelectric oxides, the polarization originates from a softening of a polar mode\u003csup\u003e7\u003c/sup\u003e. The amplitude of the mode along a given direction couples with the applied field along the same direction\u003csup\u003e8\u003c/sup\u003e. A long-standing challenge has been to achieve controlled switching of the in-plane polarization component using an out-of-plane electric field. We have discovered that a trilinear coupling between the in-plane and out-of-plane polarization, mediated via the octahedral tilts and rotations in the layered ferroelectric Bi\u003csub\u003e4\u003c/sub\u003eTi\u003csub\u003e3\u003c/sub\u003eO\u003csub\u003e12\u003c/sub\u003e naturally fulfills these requirements and enables trans-switching of the polarization state. In its monoclinic phase, this material hosts a large in-plane polarization (∼ 50 μC cm\u003csup\u003e-2\u003c/sup\u003e) driven by a proper ferroelectric instability, together with smaller out-of-plane polarization (∼ 5 μC cm\u003csup\u003e-2\u003c/sup\u003e) of improper origin, induced by oxygen-octahedral distortions. We demonstrate that in c-axis-oriented epitaxial films the in-plane polarization switches deterministically under an out-of-plane electric field. This cross-coupling between orthogonal polarization components provides a route to transverse manipulation of ferroic order parameters and establishes layered ferroelectrics as a platform for capacitive computing concepts, analogous to the transconductance of modern\r\nCMOS electronics.","manuscriptTitle":"Trans-switching in layered ferroelectrics","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2026-01-28 09:35:38","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8704297/v1","editorialEvents":[],"status":"published","journal":{"display":false,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"nature","isNatureJournal":true,"hasQc":false,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"nature","sideBox":"Learn more about [Nature](http://www.nature.com/nature/)","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Nature","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"ejp","reportingPortfolio":"Nature","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"5d26e8c8-1eed-4d7f-acdf-d22d2cc5202f","owner":[],"postedDate":"January 28th, 2026","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"under-review","subjectAreas":[{"id":61823538,"name":"Physical sciences/Materials science/Condensed-matter physics/Ferroelectrics and multiferroics"},{"id":61823539,"name":"Physical sciences/Materials science/Condensed-matter physics/Electronic properties and materials"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-03-25T00:20:24+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2026-01-28 09:35:38","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-8704297","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-8704297","identity":"rs-8704297","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"XKTyCvWXoU3ODBz1xrDgd","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}