Ultrafast decoupling of polarization and strain in ferroelectric BaTiO3
A fundamental understanding of the interplay between lattice structure, polarization and electrons is pivotal to the optical control of ferroelectrics. The interaction between light and matter enables the remote and wireless control of the ferroelectric polarization on the picosecond timescale, while inducing strain, i.e., lattice deformation. At equilibrium, the ferroelectric polarization is proportional to the strain, and is typically assumed to be so also out of equilibrium. Decoupling the polarization from the strain would remove the constraint of sample design and provide an effective knob to manipulate the polarization by light. Here, upon above-bandgap laser excitation of the prototypical ferroelectric BaTiO<sub>3</sub>, we induce and measure an ultrafast decoupling between polarization and strain that begins within 350 fs, by softening Ti-O bonds via charge transfer, and lasts for several tens of picoseconds. We show that the ferroelectric polarization out of equilibrium is mainly determined by photoexcited electrons, instead of the strain.
Authors
- Robert Carley (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0015-7089)
- Kai Roßnagel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5107-0090)
- Saptam Ganguly (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2090-6622)
- Gerard N. Hinsley (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3793-6094)
- Zhong Yin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5594-9879)
- José Manuel Caicedo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5192-4989)
- Sergii Parchenko (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4320-4957)
- David Pesquera (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0681-3371)
- Andreas Scherz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8187-7178)
- Gustau Catalán (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0214-4828)
- José Santiso (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4274-2101)
- Justine Schlappa (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3343-9119)
- Irena Spasojević (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6426-7009)
- Cammille Carinan
- Laurent Mercadier (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0606-0461)
- Martin Teichmann (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4215-9792)
- Giuseppe Mercurio (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4221-6670)
- Ivan Vartaniants (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0340-8234)
- Daniel Knez (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0755-958X)
- Martina Dienstleder
- J. Zegenhagen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0752-5320)
- Le Phuong Hoang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3083-815X)
- Teguh Citra Asmara (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1359-734X)
- Giacomo Merzoni (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0005-1151-8483)
- Tien‐Lin Lee (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6935-5983)
- Elena Martina Unterleutner
Institutions
- Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ES)
- Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (ES)
- Tohoku University (JP)
- Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY (DE)
- Diamond Light Source (GB)
- Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften Kiel (DE)
- Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel (DE)
- Graz University of Technology (AT)
- Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia (ES)
- Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter (DE)
- Austrian Centre for Electron Microscopy and Nanoanalysis (AT)
- European X-Ray Free-Electron Laser (DE)
- Politecnico di Milano (IT)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2025-08-26
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-63045-6
- Citations
- 3
- Primary Topic
- Ferroelectric and Piezoelectric Materials
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 1.55
Funders
- Centres de Recerca de Catalunya
- Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia
- Generalitat de Catalunya
- Agencia Estatal de Investigación