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TT: Fachverband Tiefe Temperaturen

TT 62: Focus Session: SrTiO₃: A Versatile Material from Bulk Quantum Paraelectric to 2D Superconductor I (joint session TT/KFM/MA/O)

TT 62.1: Invited Talk

Thursday, March 21, 2024, 09:30–10:00, H 0104

Ferroelectricity and Superconductivity in SrTiO₃ — •Susanne Stemmer — University of California, Santa Barbara, USA

Polar superconductors have attracted significant interest for their potential to host unconventional superconductivity. One candidate is doped strontium titanate (SrTiO₃), which can undergo successive ferroelectric and superconducting transitions. Recent experimental observations of a factor of two enhancement of the superconducting transition temperature in ferroelectric samples and the fact that both ferroelectricity and superconductivity vanish around the same carrier density, hint at common physical interactions relevant for both phenomena. We will discuss our understanding of ferroelectricity in strained SrTiO₃ films, and experiments aimed at elucidating the connection between superconductivity and ferroelectricity.

Although the ferroelectric transition of strained, undoped SrTiO₃ is usually described as a classic displacive transition, we show that it has pronounced order-disorder characteristics. Increasing the carrier concentration causes polar nanodomains to break up into smaller clusters. (Local) polar order appears to be essential to the superconducting state. For example, in strained SrTiO₃ films, suppression of superconductivity is correlated to the destruction of the (global) ferroelectric state, either by overdoping, by decreasing the film thickness or by alloying large amounts of a rare earth ion. We discuss how the length scale of polar order emerges as an important parameter in controlling the superconductivity of SrTiO₃.

Keywords: Superconductivity; Ferroelectricity; Thin films; SrTiO3