We discover a rare structural manifestation of the Goldstone paradigm in a hexagonal polytype of the archetypal ferroelectric BaTiO3. First-principles calculations confirm the Goldstone character of the order parameter, and high-resolution diffraction measurements link this to a quasi-continuous domain texture in the vicinity of the low-temperature phase transitions. Our findings highlight how changes in structural topology may be exploited to realize rich polar topologies in bulk ferroelectric perovskites.
@article{arxiv.2503.16228,
title = {Goldstone-mediated polar instability in hexagonal barium titanate},
author = {S. Simpson and U. Dey and R. J. Sjökvist and J. Wright and C. Ritter and R. Beanland and N. C. Bristowe and M. S. Senn},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2503.16228},
year = {2026}
}