[en] Ferroic materials naturally exhibit a rich number of functionalities, which often arise from thermally, chemically, or mechanically induced symmetry breakings or phase transitions. Based on density functional calculations, we demonstrate here that light can drive phase transitions as well in ferroelectric materials such as the perovskite oxides lead titanate and barium titanate. Phonon analysis and total energy calculations reveal that the polarization tends to vanish under illumination, to favor the emergence of nonpolar phases, potentially antiferroelectric, and exhibiting a tilt of the oxygen octahedra. Strategies to tailor photoinduced phases based on phonon instabilities in the electronic ground state are also discussed.
ARO [W911NF-16-1-0227] ; National Research Fund, LuxembourgLuxembourg National Research Fund [INTER/ANR/13/20/NANOTMD, INTER/ANR/16/11562984/EXPAND, 15/9890527/GREENOX]
C. P. and L. B. thank the ARO Grant No. W911NF-16-1-0227. We also acknowledge support from the National Research Fund, Luxembourg through Project No. INTER/ANR/13/20/NANOTMD (E. T. and L. W.); Project No. INTER/ANR/16/11562984/EXPAND (J. I.) and the inter-mobility program (Grant No. 15/9890527/GREENOX, J. I. and L. B.). C. P. thanks the AHPCC and a DoD challenge grant for use of computing resources. We thank B. Dkhil and P. Ruello for interesting discussions.
FnR ; FNR7490149 > Ludger Wirtz > NANOTMD > 20 Electric transport and superconductivity in TransitionMetal Dichalcogenides nanolayers > 01/02/2014 > 31/01/2019 > 2013
[University of Luxembourg > Faculty of Science, Technology and Communication (FSTC) > Physics and Materials Science Research Unit]
