Abstract
An approach for probing dynamic phenomena during hysteresis loop measurements in
piezoresponse force microscopy (PFM) is developed. Dynamic PFM (D-PFM) necessitates
development of 5-dimensional (5D) data acquisition protocols and associated methods for analysis
and visualization of multidimensional data. Using a combination of multivariate statistical analysis
and phenomenological fitting, we explore dynamic behavior during polarization switching in
model ferroelectric films with dense ferroelastic domain structures and in ferroelectric capacitors.
In polydomain films, multivariate analysis of the switching data suggests that ferroelectric and
ferroelastic components can be decoupled and time dynamics can be explored. In capacitors, a
strong correlation between polarization dynamics and microstructure is observed. The future
potential of D-PFM for probing time-dependent hysteretic phenomena in ferroelectrics and ionic
systems is discussed.
