A large modulation of electron-phonon coupling and an emergent superconducting dome in doped strong ferroelectrics

Abstract

We use first-principles methods to study doped strong ferroelectrics (taking BaTiO${}_3$ as a prototype). Here we find a strong coupling between itinerant electrons and soft polar phonons in doped BaTiO${}_3$, contrary to Anderson/Blount's weakly coupled electron mechanism for "ferroelectric-like metals". As a consequence, across a polar-to-centrosymmetric phase transition in doped BaTiO${}_3$, the total electron-phonon coupling is increased to about 0.6 around the critical concentration, which is sufficient to induce phonon-mediated superconductivity of about 2 K. Lowering the crystal symmetry of doped BaTiO${}_3$ by imposing epitaxial strain can further increase the superconducting temperature via a sizable coupling between itinerant electrons and acoustic phonons. Our work demonstrates a viable approach to modulating electron-phonon coupling and inducing phonon-mediated superconductivity in doped strong ferroelectrics and potentially in polar metals. Our results also show that the weakly coupled electron mechanism for "ferroelectric-like metals" is not necessarily present in doped strong ferroelectrics.

arXiv comment24 pages, 4 figures

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