Emergent Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless Phase in Low-Dimensional Ferroelectrics

Phys Rev Lett. 2017 Sep 15;119(11):117601. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.117601. Epub 2017 Sep 12.

Abstract

Using first-principles-based simulations merging an effective Hamiltonian scheme with scaling, symmetry, and topological arguments, we find that an overlooked Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) phase sustained by quasicontinuous symmetry emerges between the ferroelectric phase and the paraelectric one of BaTiO_{3} ultrathin film, being under tensile strain. Not only do these results provide an extension of BKT physics to the field of ferroelectrics, but they also unveil their nontrivial critical behavior in low dimensions.