Elastic stabilization of a single-domain ferroelectric state in nanoscale capacitors and tunnel junctions

Taking into account the electrostrictive coupling between inhomogeneous polarization fluctuations and lattice strains in ferroelectric films, we show that, in heterostructures involving strained epitaxial films and metal electrodes, the single-domain state may remain stable against the transformation into a polydomain state down to the nanometer scale. This result indicates that the ferroelectric states with opposite remanent polarizations can be stabilized even in nanoscale capacitors and tunnel junctions, which opens the possibility of their application for memory storage.