Cooperative PJTE in BaTiO-type crystals and ferroelectricity. In crystals with PJTE centers the interaction between the local distortions may lead to their ordering to produce a phase transition to a regular crystal phase with lower symmetry. Such cooperative PJTE is quite similar to the cooperative JTE; it was shown in one of the first studies of the PJTE in solid state systems  that in the case of ABO crystals with perovskite structure the local dipolar PJTE distortions at the transition metal B center and their cooperative interactions lead to ferroelectric phase transitions. Provided the criterion for PJTE is met, each [BO] center has an APES with eight equivalent minima along the trigonal axes, six orthorhombic, and (higher) twelve tetragonal saddle-points between them. With temperature, the gradually reached transitions between the minima via the different kind of saddle-points explains the origin of all the four phases (three ferroelectric and one paraelectric) in perovskites of the type BaTiO and their properties. The predicted by the theory trigonal displacement of the Ti ion in all four phases, the fully disordered PJTE distortions in the paraelectric phase, and their partially disordered state in two other phases was confirmed by a variety of experimental investigations (see in ).
Multiferroicity and magnetic-ferroelectric crossover. The PJTE theory of ferroelectricity in ABO3 crystals was expanded to show that, depending on the number of electrons in the d shell of the transition metal ion B and their low spin or high spin arrangement (which controls the symmetry and spin multiplicity of the ground and PJTE active excited states of the [BO] center), the ferroelectricity may coexist with a magnetic moment (multiferroicity). Moreover, in combination with the temperature dependent spin crossover phenomenon (which changes the spin multiplicity), this kind of multiferroicity may lead to a novel effect known as a magnetic-ferroelectric crossover.
Solid state magnetic-dielectric bistability. Similar to the above-mentioned molecular bistability induced by the hidden PJTE, a magnetic-dielectric bistability due to two coexisting equilibrium configurations with corresponding properties may take place also in crystals with transition metal centers, subject to the electronic configuration with half-filled e or t shells. As in molecular systems, the latter produce a hidden PJTE and local bistability which, distinguished from the molecular case, are enhanced by the cooperative interactions, thus acquiring larger lifetimes. This crystal bistability was proved by calculations for LiCuO and NaCuO crystals, in which the Cu ion has the electronic e(d) configuration (similar to the CuF molecule).
Giant enhancement of observable properties in interaction with external perturbations. In a recent development it was shown that in inorganic crystals with PJTE centers, in which the local distortions are not ordered (before the phase transition to the cooperative phase), the effect of interaction with external perturbations contains an orientational contribution which enhances the observable properties by several orders of magnitude. This was demonstrated on the properties of crystals like paraelectric BaTiO in interaction with electric fields (in permittivity and electrostriction), or under a strain gradient (flexoelectricity). These giant enhancement effects occur due to the dynamic nature of the PJTE local dipolar distortions (their tunneling between the equivalent minima); the independently rotating dipole moments on each center become oriented (frozen) along the external perturbation resulting in an orientational polarization which is not there in the absence of the PJTE