Order-Disorder Ferroelectric Transition of Strained SrTiO3

Abstract

SrTiO3 is an incipient ferroelectric that is believed to exhibit a prototype displacive, soft mode ferroelectric transition when subjected to mechanical stress or alloying. We use high-angle annular dark-field imaging in scanning transmission electron microscopy to reveal local polar regions in the room-temperature, paraelectric phase of strained SrTiO3 films, which undergo a ferroelectric transition at low temperatures. These films contain nanometer-sized domains in which the Ti columns are displaced. In contrast, these nanodomains are absent in unstrained films, which do not become ferroelectric. The results show that the ferroelectric transition of strained SrTiO3 is an order-disorder transition. We discuss the impact of the results on the nature of the ferroelectric transition of SrTiO3.

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• Generalized Rashba Electron-Phonon Coupling and Superconductivity in Strontium Titanate
• Coexistence of superconductivity and weak anti-localization at KTaO3 (111) interfaces
• A theory of criticality for quantum ferroelectric metals
• Lamellar fluctuations melt ferroelectricity
• Atomic-scale tracking of topological defect motion and incommensurate charge order melting
• Majorana-Weyl cones in ferroelectric superconductors
• Modeling polar order in compressively strained SrTiO${}_3$
• Atomic scale symmetry and polar nanoclusters in the paraelectric phase of ferroelectric materials
• Orbital homology of p and t2g orbitals in models and materials
• Effects of doping on polar order in SrTiO${}_3$ from first-principles modeling
• Phonon-mediated spin transport in quantum paraelectric metals
• Nanoscale Polar Landscapes in Quantum Paraelectric SrTiO3
• Anomalous enhancement of thermal radiation transport by quasidisorder