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29 July 2026 Electric dipoles go sideways in thin ferroelectric film Coupling between horizontal and vertical electric polarization enables an unconventional ferroelectric material to be controlled using standard device geometry. By Elzbieta Gradauskaite ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9607-1855 0 Elzbieta Gradauskaite Elzbieta Gradauskaite is in the Albert Fert Laboratory, French National Centre for Scientific Research, Thales, Paris-Saclay University, Palaiseau 91767, France. View author publications PubMed Google Scholar
When placed in an electric field, many materials acquire an electric polarization — a net separation of positive and negative charge. Ferroelectrics are different: they have a polarization even without an applied field. This polarization can also be reversed electrically, making ferroelectrics attractive for electronic memory applications. To be compatible with computer chips, the ferroelectric must generally be thin to enable the voltage, which is applied between the top and bottom surface of the ferroelectric layer, to be small. However, polarization directed towards the surfaces can become unstable in such thin films. Now, writing in Nature, Gupta et al.1 report a thin-film ferroelectric in which the vertical polarization between the top and bottom of the material is coupled to polarization in the larger horizontal dimension, enabling a small voltage to be used to control a large, stable polarization.
doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-026-02127-x
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Competing Interests The author declares no competing interests.
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