Imaging of nanoscale polar textures in quantum paraelectric SrTiO3
10 affiliations
- 1Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA. [email protected]
- 2The Rowland Institute at Harvard, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA. [email protected]
- 3Michigan Center for Materials Characterization, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
- 4The Rowland Institute at Harvard, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
- 5Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
- 6h-Bar Instruments, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
- 7State Key Laboratory of Low Dimensional Quantum Physics and Department of Physics, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
- 8Department of Physics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
- 9Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. [email protected]
- 10The Rowland Institute at Harvard, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA. [email protected]
Abstract
When cooling towards a ferroelectric phase transition, collective atomic motions (phonons) slow down (soften) until a static atomic displacement pattern forms, giving rise to spontaneous polarization throughout the material1. However, in quantum paraelectrics such as strontium titanate (SrTiO3), long-range ferroelectric order does not develop at low temperatures due to persistent quantum fluctuations of ionic positions2,3. In SrTiO3, quantum paraelectricity emerges below Tq ≈ 40 K refs. 4–6 and is preceded by anomalous phonon dynamics: a transverse acoustic phonon mode partially softens at a finite wavevector, hinting at a modulated state at the nanoscale7–12. The precise real-space structure of SrTiO3 at low temperature, however, has remained unresolved despite decades of study. Here we directly image the low-temperature polar structure of a SrTiO3 lamella using cryogenic scanning transmission electron microscopy down to 20 K. High-resolution imaging reveals a spatially fluctuating landscape of nanoscale domains. Below about 105 K, short-range polar domains initially self-organize into a periodic structure extending over tens of nanometres; however, upon entering the quantum paraelectric regime below Tq, the process reverses and the periodically ordered polar nanodomains fragment into smaller clusters. Quantum paraelectricity in SrTiO3 underlies remarkable properties, including large dielectric permittivity13,14, proximity to ferroelectricity15,16, multiferroicity17 and unconventional superconductivity18–20. Our visualizations suggest that these phenomena may be linked to complex ordering and disordering of polar nanodomains at low temperature. Cryo-STEM reveals that SrTiO3 forms periodic polar nanodomains below 105 K, but these fragment below 40 K, linking quantum paraelectricity to nanoscale polar ordering and disordering.
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BibTeX
@article{zhang2026imaging,
title = {{Imaging of nanoscale polar textures in quantum paraelectric SrTiO3}},
author = {Yang Zhang and Suk Hyun Sung and Nishkarsh Agarwal and Maya Gates and Cong Li and Pu Yu and Robert Hovden and Ismail El Baggari},
journal = {Nature},
year = {2026},
month = jul,
doi = {10.1038/s41586-026-10823-x},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-10823-x},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Imaging of nanoscale polar textures in quantum paraelectric SrTiO3
AU - Yang Zhang
AU - Suk Hyun Sung
AU - Nishkarsh Agarwal
AU - Maya Gates
AU - Cong Li
AU - Pu Yu
AU - Robert Hovden
AU - Ismail El Baggari
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/07/22
JO - Nature
DO - 10.1038/s41586-026-10823-x
UR - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-10823-x
AB - When cooling towards a ferroelectric phase transition, collective atomic motions (phonons) slow down (soften) until a static atomic displacement pattern forms, giving rise to spontaneous polarization throughout the material1. However, in quantum paraelectrics such as strontium titanate (SrTiO3), long-range ferroelectric order does not develop at low temperatures due to persistent quantum fluctuations of ionic positions2,3. In SrTiO3, quantum paraelectricity emerges below Tq ≈ 40 K refs. 4–6 and is preceded by anomalous phonon dynamics: a transverse acoustic phonon mode partially softens at a finite wavevector, hinting at a modulated state at the nanoscale7–12. The precise real-space structure of SrTiO3 at low temperature, however, has remained unresolved despite decades of study. Here we directly image the low-temperature polar structure of a SrTiO3 lamella using cryogenic scanning transmission electron microscopy down to 20 K. High-resolution imaging reveals a spatially fluctuating landscape of nanoscale domains. Below about 105 K, short-range polar domains initially self-organize into a periodic structure extending over tens of nanometres; however, upon entering the quantum paraelectric regime below Tq, the process reverses and the periodically ordered polar nanodomains fragment into smaller clusters. Quantum paraelectricity in SrTiO3 underlies remarkable properties, including large dielectric permittivity13,14, proximity to ferroelectricity15,16, multiferroicity17 and unconventional superconductivity18–20. Our visualizations suggest that these phenomena may be linked to complex ordering and disordering of polar nanodomains at low temperature. Cryo-STEM reveals that SrTiO3 forms periodic polar nanodomains below 105 K, but these fragment below 40 K, linking quantum paraelectricity to nanoscale polar ordering and disordering.
SN - 0028-0836
SN - 1476-4687
ER -