New insight into the concept of ferroelectric correlation volume

Using an effective Hamiltonian derived from first-principles calculations, we discuss the concept of "ferroelectric correlation volume" and show that it cannot be uniquely defined: it is not the size but the anisotropic shape of the polar region that is crucial for stabilizing a ferroelectric distortion into a ferroelectric materials. To provide basic understanding of this result, the stability of a polar region is analyzed in term of intra-chain and inter-chain interactions.