{
  "abstract": "Structural defects are central to the functionalities of materials. However, conventional approaches to defect control are often slow and imprecise. This work identifies and characterizes a distinct physical phenomenon of electrostructural bistability that provides a rapid and precise pathway for engineering materials with defect-controlled physical properties. A generalized theory of conductivity bistability is developed and experimentally validated to unify two distinct regimes: previously reported electrothermal bistability in weakly polarizable insulators, such as silicon, and electrostructural bistability in strongly polarizable materials, such as TiO$_2$. In agreement with the theory, experiments on TiO$_2$ demonstrate that bulk-homogeneous defect concentrations in electrostructurally bistable materials can be tuned rapidly and deterministically by controlling applied electric current. Abruptly interrupting the current quenches the system into long-lived, room-temperature metastable states with distinct properties. This establishes a practical, rapid, and scalable pathway for defect engineering with direct relevance to nonvolatile memory devices.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": "2610.33698",
  "author_total": 5,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Tyler C. Sterling"
    },
    {
      "name": "Tomke E. Glier"
    },
    {
      "name": "David Abbe"
    },
    {
      "name": "Rahul Nandkishore"
    },
    {
      "name": "Dmitry Reznik"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/efrwbdhcscyez.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.48550/arxiv.2610.33698",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "efrwbdhcscyez",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.33698",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "LicenseRef-arXiv-nonexclusive-1.0",
  "licence_label": "arXiv licence",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/",
  "metadata_licence": "CC0-1.0",
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "arxiv",
      "cond-mat.mtrl-sci"
    ],
    [
      "arxiv",
      "physics.app-ph"
    ],
    [
      "arxiv",
      "physics.chem-ph"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": null,
  "pdf_url": "https://arxiv.org/pdf/2610.33698",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-24",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/efrwbdhcscyez.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:35:35Z",
      "native_id": "2610.33698",
      "source": "arxiv",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.33698"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "chemistry",
      "origin": "arxiv:physics.chem-ph",
      "subfield": "physical"
    },
    {
      "field": "physics",
      "origin": "arxiv:physics.app-ph",
      "subfield": "applied-instrumentation"
    },
    {
      "field": "physics",
      "origin": "arxiv:cond-mat.mtrl-sci",
      "subfield": "condensed-matter"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Harnessing Electrostructural Bistability to Control Defects in Polarizable Materials",
  "title_text": "Harnessing Electrostructural Bistability to Control Defects in Polarizable Materials",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:35:35Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/efrwbdhcscyez",
  "venue": "arXiv",
  "versions": []
}