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Main Authors: Santos-Cottin, D., Nasrallah, S., Capitani, F., Simon, P., Homes, C. C., Akrap, A., Lobo, R. P. S. M.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2402.04998
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_version_ 1866911772991029248
author Santos-Cottin, D.
Nasrallah, S.
Capitani, F.
Simon, P.
Homes, C. C.
Akrap, A.
Lobo, R. P. S. M.
author_facet Santos-Cottin, D.
Nasrallah, S.
Capitani, F.
Simon, P.
Homes, C. C.
Akrap, A.
Lobo, R. P. S. M.
contents We measured the far-infrared reflectivity of a KH2PO4 single crystal up to pressures of 2 GPa in the ferroelectric and paraelectric phases. We find that the nu4 vibrational mode of the PO4 tetrahedron is strongly affected by the applied pressure. At ambient pressure this phonon is destabilized by the presence of the H ions and hence shows a highly damped character, beyond the phonon propagation threshold. Applying a pressure close to 0.6 GPa makes this phonon clearly underdamped. Its behavior closely follows the soft-mode behavior observed in Raman spectroscopy. Our results solve a long standing open problem, demonstrating that the nu4 mode is the excitation mediating the coupling of the hydrogen network to the lattice modes that create the ferroelectic polarization in KH2PO4.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2402_04998
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Revealing the KH2PO4 soft-mode coupling mechanism with infrared spectroscopy under pressure
Santos-Cottin, D.
Nasrallah, S.
Capitani, F.
Simon, P.
Homes, C. C.
Akrap, A.
Lobo, R. P. S. M.
Materials Science
We measured the far-infrared reflectivity of a KH2PO4 single crystal up to pressures of 2 GPa in the ferroelectric and paraelectric phases. We find that the nu4 vibrational mode of the PO4 tetrahedron is strongly affected by the applied pressure. At ambient pressure this phonon is destabilized by the presence of the H ions and hence shows a highly damped character, beyond the phonon propagation threshold. Applying a pressure close to 0.6 GPa makes this phonon clearly underdamped. Its behavior closely follows the soft-mode behavior observed in Raman spectroscopy. Our results solve a long standing open problem, demonstrating that the nu4 mode is the excitation mediating the coupling of the hydrogen network to the lattice modes that create the ferroelectic polarization in KH2PO4.
title Revealing the KH2PO4 soft-mode coupling mechanism with infrared spectroscopy under pressure
topic Materials Science
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2402.04998