Lamellar fluctuations melt ferroelectricity

G. G. Guzmán-Verri; C. H. Liang; P. B. Littlewood

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.131.046801

Lamellar fluctuations melt ferroelectricity

G. G. Guzmán-Verri, C. H. Liang, P. B. Littlewood

School of Physics and Astronomy

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

We consider a standard Ginzburg-Landau model of a ferroelectric whose electrical polarization is coupled to gradients of elastic strain. At the harmonic level, such flexoelectric interaction is known to hybridize acoustic and optic phonon modes and lead to phases with modulated lattice structures that precede the state with spontaneously broken inversion symmetry. Here, we use the self-consistent phonon approximation to calculate the effects of thermal and quantum polarization fluctuations on the bare hybridized modes to show that such long-range modulated order is unstable at all temperatures. We discuss the implications for the nearly ferroelectric SrTiO₃ and KTaO₃, and we propose that these systems are melted versions of an underlying modulated state that is dominated by nonzero momentum thermal fluctuations except at the very lowest temperatures.

Original language	English
Article number	046801
Number of pages	8
Journal	Physical Review Letters
Volume	131
Issue number	4
Early online date	25 Jul 2023
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.131.046801
Publication status	Published - 28 Jul 2023

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10.1103/PhysRevLett.131.046801

Guzmán-Verri-2023-Lamellar-fluctuations-PRL-131-4-046801
Copyright © 2023 American Physical Society. This work has been made available online in accordance with publisher policies or with permission. Permission for further reuse of this content should be sought from the publisher or the rights holder. This is the author created accepted manuscript following peer review and may differ slightly from the final published version. The final published version of this work is available at https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.131.046801.
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title = "Lamellar fluctuations melt ferroelectricity",

abstract = "We consider a standard Ginzburg-Landau model of a ferroelectric whose electrical polarization is coupled to gradients of elastic strain. At the harmonic level, such flexoelectric interaction is known to hybridize acoustic and optic phonon modes and lead to phases with modulated lattice structures that precede the state with spontaneously broken inversion symmetry. Here, we use the self-consistent phonon approximation to calculate the effects of thermal and quantum polarization fluctuations on the bare hybridized modes to show that such long-range modulated order is unstable at all temperatures. We discuss the implications for the nearly ferroelectric SrTiO3 and KTaO3, and we propose that these systems are melted versions of an underlying modulated state that is dominated by nonzero momentum thermal fluctuations except at the very lowest temperatures.",

author = "Guzm{\'a}n-Verri, {G. G.} and Liang, {C. H.} and Littlewood, {P. B.}",

note = "Funding: C.H.L. acknowledges support from NSF GRFP DGE-1746045, NSF INTERN, and DOE SCGSR. G.G.G.-V. acknowledges support from the Vice-rectory for Research at the University of Costa Rica under project No. 816-C1-601.",

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AU - Guzmán-Verri, G. G.

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N1 - Funding: C.H.L. acknowledges support from NSF GRFP DGE-1746045, NSF INTERN, and DOE SCGSR. G.G.G.-V. acknowledges support from the Vice-rectory for Research at the University of Costa Rica under project No. 816-C1-601.

PY - 2023/7/28

Y1 - 2023/7/28

N2 - We consider a standard Ginzburg-Landau model of a ferroelectric whose electrical polarization is coupled to gradients of elastic strain. At the harmonic level, such flexoelectric interaction is known to hybridize acoustic and optic phonon modes and lead to phases with modulated lattice structures that precede the state with spontaneously broken inversion symmetry. Here, we use the self-consistent phonon approximation to calculate the effects of thermal and quantum polarization fluctuations on the bare hybridized modes to show that such long-range modulated order is unstable at all temperatures. We discuss the implications for the nearly ferroelectric SrTiO3 and KTaO3, and we propose that these systems are melted versions of an underlying modulated state that is dominated by nonzero momentum thermal fluctuations except at the very lowest temperatures.

AB - We consider a standard Ginzburg-Landau model of a ferroelectric whose electrical polarization is coupled to gradients of elastic strain. At the harmonic level, such flexoelectric interaction is known to hybridize acoustic and optic phonon modes and lead to phases with modulated lattice structures that precede the state with spontaneously broken inversion symmetry. Here, we use the self-consistent phonon approximation to calculate the effects of thermal and quantum polarization fluctuations on the bare hybridized modes to show that such long-range modulated order is unstable at all temperatures. We discuss the implications for the nearly ferroelectric SrTiO3 and KTaO3, and we propose that these systems are melted versions of an underlying modulated state that is dominated by nonzero momentum thermal fluctuations except at the very lowest temperatures.

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DO - 10.1103/PhysRevLett.131.046801

M3 - Article

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VL - 131

JO - Physical Review Letters

JF - Physical Review Letters

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Lamellar fluctuations melt ferroelectricity

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