We present a comparative Raman scattering study of metallic rutile oxides (RuO2 and IrO2) and insulating rutiles (TiO2 and SnO2). Temperature-dependent Raman spectra reveal that the metallic compounds exhibit pronounced phonon frequency hardening, ω(11K)−ω(300K)=Δω≈6-10cm−1, whereas the insulating rutiles show only modest hardening, Δω≈1-3cm−1. In contrast, the linewidth changes, ΔΓ≈1--7cm−1, do not display a systematic metallic-insulating classification. Fits with the conventional Klemens anharmonic decay model reproduce the overall temperature trends but yield inconsistent anharmonic parameters for the metallic compounds when benchmarked against insulating rutile analogues. A modified Klemens framework, incorporating an additional T2 correction to the phonon frequency arising from the electronic contribution to the phonon self-energy, quantitatively accounts for the enhanced renormalization observed in metallic systems. These results establish finite non-adiabatic electron-phonon coupling in metallic rutiles and demonstrate that phonon renormalization can be identified even in the absence of observable Fano asymmetry in the phonon line shapes.
@article{arxiv.2605.23227,
title = {Non-adiabatic phonon renormalization in metallic versus insulating rutile oxides},
author = {Reshma Kumawat and Shubham Farswan and Simranjeet Kaur and Kaushik Sen},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2605.23227},
year = {2026}
}
Comments
Accepted in Phys. Rev. B as a regular article (https://doi.org/10.1103/4nhr-dvbn)