Check out our newest preprint on investigating inversion-breaking symmetry in a polar metal lithium osmate using nonlinear X-ray spectroscopy!
Ferroelectric materials containing a switchable spontaneous polarization in combination with metallicity, hence polar metals, have intriguing prospects for exotic quantum phenomena such as unconventional pairing mechanisms giving rise to superconductivity, topological spin currents, anisotropic upper critical fields, Mott multiferroics, and the wide range of applications arising from these phenomena. Our experimental approach using element-specific nonlinear X-ray spectroscopy provides direct access to the symmetry breaking properties exerted by the lithium atom in the unit cell and enables mapping of the dielectric environment. We also perform ab initio density functional perturbation theory (DFPT) calculations to understand the implications of our experimental finding and to validate our observation.
In collaboration with UC San Diego, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, the Pennsylvania State University and Argonne National Lab. Measurements performed at the SPring-8 Angstrom Compact free electron LAser (SACLA).
Link to Arxiv manuscript:
https://arxiv.org/abs/2010.03134