Metals cannot exhibit ferroelectricity because static internal electric fields are screened by conduction electrons, but in 1965, Anderson and Blount predicted the possibility of a ferroelectric metal, in which a ferroelectric-like structural transition occurs in the metallic state. Up to now, no clear example of such a material has been identified. Here we report on a centrosymmetric (R-3c) to non-centrosymmetric (R3c) transition in metallic LiOsO3 that is structurally equivalent to the ferroelectric transition of LiNbO3. The transition involves a continuous shift in the mean position of Li+ ions on cooling below 140K. Its discovery realizes the scenario described by Anderson and Blount, and establishes a new class of materials whose properties may differ from those of normal metals.
@article{arxiv.1509.01849,
title = {A ferroelectric-like structural transition in a metal},
author = {Youguo Shi and Yanfeng Guo and Xia Wang and Andrew J. Princep and Dmitry Khalyavin and Pascal Manuel and Yuichi Michiue and Akira Sato and Kenji Tsuda and Shan Yu and Masao Arai and Yuichi Shirako and Masaki Akaogi and Nanlin Wang and Kazunari Yamaura and Andrew T. Boothroyd},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1509.01849},
year = {2015}
}
Comments
Manuscript of published version, including Supplementary Information. See also News & Views article by V. Keppens, Nature Materials 12, 952 (2013)