Use `polars` to work with tabular data

### Is your feature request related to a problem?

Some operations are very slow with `pandas`. Their transition to `PyArrow` is also going to take long.

### Desired solution

Use `polars` instead, maybe even its lazy mode.

### Possible alternatives (optional)

_No response_

### Screenshots (optional)

_No response_

### Additional Context (optional)

_No response_
