Introduction to the special issue for ISAF-ECAPD-PFM 2012

This special issue contains some of the papers presented at the joint ISAF-ECAPD-PFM 2012 meeting, combining the 21st IEEE International Symposium on Applications of Ferroelectrics (ISAF 2012), the 11th European Conference on Polar Dielectrics (ECAPD 2012), and the 4th Conference on Piezoresponse Force Microscopy and Nanoscale Phenomena in Polar Materials (PFM 2012), held at the University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal, from July 9-13, 2012.