Observation of polarization density waves in SrTiO3

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Orenstein, Gal, Krapivin, Viktor, Huang, Yijing, Zhan, Zhuquan, Munoz, Gilberto de la Pena, Duncan, Ryan A., Nguyen, Quynh, Stanton, Jade, Teitelbaum, Samuel, Yavas, Hasan, Sato, Takahiro, Hoffmann, Matthias C., Kramer, Patrick, Zhang, Jiahao, Cavalleri, Andrea, Comin, Riccardo, Dean, Mark P. M., Disa, Ankit S., Forst, Michael, Johnson, Steven L., Mitrano, Matteo, Rappe, Andrew M., Reis, David, Zhu, Diling, Nelson, Keith A., Trigo, Mariano
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Orenstein, Gal
Krapivin, Viktor
Huang, Yijing
Zhan, Zhuquan
Munoz, Gilberto de la Pena
Duncan, Ryan A.
Nguyen, Quynh
Stanton, Jade
Teitelbaum, Samuel
Yavas, Hasan
Sato, Takahiro
Hoffmann, Matthias C.
Kramer, Patrick
Zhang, Jiahao
Cavalleri, Andrea
Comin, Riccardo
Dean, Mark P. M.
Disa, Ankit S.
Forst, Michael
Johnson, Steven L.
Mitrano, Matteo
Rappe, Andrew M.
Reis, David
Zhu, Diling
Nelson, Keith A.
Trigo, Mariano
author_facet Orenstein, Gal
Krapivin, Viktor
Huang, Yijing
Zhan, Zhuquan
Munoz, Gilberto de la Pena
Duncan, Ryan A.
Nguyen, Quynh
Stanton, Jade
Teitelbaum, Samuel
Yavas, Hasan
Sato, Takahiro
Hoffmann, Matthias C.
Kramer, Patrick
Zhang, Jiahao
Cavalleri, Andrea
Comin, Riccardo
Dean, Mark P. M.
Disa, Ankit S.
Forst, Michael
Johnson, Steven L.
Mitrano, Matteo
Rappe, Andrew M.
Reis, David
Zhu, Diling
Nelson, Keith A.
Trigo, Mariano
contents The nature of the "failed" ferroelectric transition in SrTiO3 has been a long-standing puzzle in condensed matter physics. A compelling explanation is the competition between ferroelectricity and an instability with a mesoscopic modulation of the polarization. These polarization density waves, which should become especially strong near the quantum critical point, break local inversion symmetry and are difficult to probe with conventional x-ray scattering methods. Here we combine a femtosecond x-ray free electron laser (XFEL) with THz coherent control methods to probe inversion symmetry breaking at finite momenta and visualize the instability of the polarization on nanometer lengthscales in SrTiO3. We find polar-acoustic collective modes that are soft particularly at the tens of nanometer lengthscale. These precursor collective excitations provide evidence for the conjectured mesoscopic modulated phase in SrTiO3.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2403_17203
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Observation of polarization density waves in SrTiO3
Orenstein, Gal
Krapivin, Viktor
Huang, Yijing
Zhan, Zhuquan
Munoz, Gilberto de la Pena
Duncan, Ryan A.
Nguyen, Quynh
Stanton, Jade
Teitelbaum, Samuel
Yavas, Hasan
Sato, Takahiro
Hoffmann, Matthias C.
Kramer, Patrick
Zhang, Jiahao
Cavalleri, Andrea
Comin, Riccardo
Dean, Mark P. M.
Disa, Ankit S.
Forst, Michael
Johnson, Steven L.
Mitrano, Matteo
Rappe, Andrew M.
Reis, David
Zhu, Diling
Nelson, Keith A.
Trigo, Mariano
Materials Science
The nature of the "failed" ferroelectric transition in SrTiO3 has been a long-standing puzzle in condensed matter physics. A compelling explanation is the competition between ferroelectricity and an instability with a mesoscopic modulation of the polarization. These polarization density waves, which should become especially strong near the quantum critical point, break local inversion symmetry and are difficult to probe with conventional x-ray scattering methods. Here we combine a femtosecond x-ray free electron laser (XFEL) with THz coherent control methods to probe inversion symmetry breaking at finite momenta and visualize the instability of the polarization on nanometer lengthscales in SrTiO3. We find polar-acoustic collective modes that are soft particularly at the tens of nanometer lengthscale. These precursor collective excitations provide evidence for the conjectured mesoscopic modulated phase in SrTiO3.
title Observation of polarization density waves in SrTiO3
topic Materials Science
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.17203