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Radio Frequency Magnetron Sputtering of GdBa2Cu3O7−δ/ La0.67Sr0.33MnO3 Quasi-bilayer Films on SrTiO3 (STO) Single-crystal Substrates
Published on: April 12, 2019
Laser-driven ferroelectricity in SrTiO3 via quantum fluctuation quenching
Francesco Libbi1, Lorenzo Monacelli2, Boris Kozinsky3,4
1John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA. francesco.libbi93@gmail.com.
Nature Communications
|May 21, 2026
Summary
Researchers used pulsed light to suppress quantum fluctuations in strontium titanate (SrTiO3), inducing a ferroelectric state not possible at equilibrium. This demonstrates control over quantum effects to alter material properties.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Condensed Matter Physics
- Quantum Mechanics
Background:
- Strontium titanate (SrTiO3) exhibits ferroelectric mode softening with decreasing temperature, typically indicating an impending ferroelectric transition.
- Quantum fluctuations prevent SrTiO3 from reaching a stable ferroelectric state at equilibrium, even at absolute zero.
- Controlling quantum fluctuations is key to stabilizing novel material phases.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the possibility of inducing a ferroelectric transition in SrTiO3 under non-equilibrium conditions.
- To explore the role of pulsed light in suppressing quantum fluctuations.
- To understand the creation and characteristics of metastable states in quantum materials.
Main Methods:
- Utilized resonant mid-infrared (mid-IR) laser pulses to create a strongly out-of-equilibrium regime in SrTiO3.
- Employed first-principles calculations with a machine-learned potential energy surface to model the system.
- Analyzed the suppression of quantum fluctuations and the emergence of a metastable ferroelectric state.
Main Results:
- Demonstrated the induction of a ferroelectric transition in SrTiO3 by suppressing quantum fluctuations with pulsed light.
- Observed the formation of a distinct metastable ferroelectric state, not present in the equilibrium ground state.
- Predicted conditions for the long-lived metastability of the light-induced ferroelectric phase.
Conclusions:
- Pulsed light can be used to control quantum fluctuations and fundamentally alter the free energy landscape of quantum systems.
- A general non-equilibrium route to light-induced ferroelectric order in oxide perovskites near instability has been established.
- The findings explain recent experimental observations of light-induced ferroelectric transitions in SrTiO3.
