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  • Letter
  • Open Access

Spectroscopic signature of sublattice polarization in the lattice dynamics of an antiferroelectric crystal

E. Constable1,*, L. Bergen1, A. Shuvaev1, J. Wettstein1, L. Weymann1, E. Malysheva1, A. Pimenov1, and M. Guennou2,†

  • 1Institute of Solid State Physics, TU Wien, 1040 Vienna, Austria
  • 2Department of Physics and Materials Science, University of Luxembourg, 41 rue du Brill, L-4422 Belvaux, Luxembourg

  • *evan.constable@tuwien.ac.at
  • †mael.guennou@uni.lu
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Phys. Rev. Research 5, L012036 – Published 16 March, 2023

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.5.L012036

Abstract

Spectroscopic measurements of the far-infrared phonon dynamics for a model antiferroelectric crystal are performed at low temperature. In agreement with the phenomenological expectations for a displacive antiferroelectric transition, a polar soft mode associated to a close-lying polar phase of the otherwise centrosymmetric structure is observed. Incomplete softening of the polar soft mode due to the antiferroelectric transition quantifies the energy barrier between the neighboring states. The dynamics are modeled with a biquadratic Landau potential incorporating a symmetry constraining effective interaction between displaced ions. A signature of sublattice polarization is observed in a scaling of the effective antipolar interaction in the antiferroelectric phase.

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Phys. Rev. Research 5, L012036– Published 16 March, 2023
  • Received 31 May 2022
  • Revised 19 November 2022
  • Accepted 17 February 2023
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