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Goldstone-Mediated Polar Instability in Hexagonal Barium Titanate

Struan Simpson1,*, Urmimala Dey2,3, Robin Sjökvist4, Jonathan Wright5, Clemens Ritter6, Richard Beanland4, Nicholas C. Bristowe2, and Mark S. Senn1,†

  • *Contact author: struan.simpson@warwick.ac.uk
  • †Contact author: m.senn@warwick.ac.uk
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Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 116101 – Published 17 March, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/9mdh-2b5w

Abstract

We discover a rare structural manifestation of the Goldstone paradigm in a hexagonal polytype of the prototypical ferroelectric BaTiO3. First-principles calculations confirm the Goldstone character of the order parameter, while our high-resolution diffraction measurements unveil an unusual reentrant Goldstone regime manifesting as a quasicontinuous domain texture in the vicinity of the ferroelectric transition. We develop a minimal Landau model that encapsulates these observations, illustrating how U(1) symmetry can be restored at the ferroelectric transition. Our findings demonstrate how exotic Goldstone physics can be unlocked in systems dominated by highly anharmonic interactions, presenting a promising pathway to stabilize emergent polar topologies in bulk materials.

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Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 116101– Published 17 March, 2026
  • Received 20 March 2025
  • Accepted 12 February 2026
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI.

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