# An Inelastic X-Ray investigation of the Ferroelectric Transition in SnTe

## TL;DR

This study uses inelastic X-ray scattering to demonstrate that SnTe undergoes a ferroelectric transition characterized by a softening and subsequent increase in energy of a polar phonon mode below 75 K, despite its metallic nature.

## Contribution

It provides direct evidence of ferroelectric displacement in metallic SnTe and shows that its transition resembles that of insulators, highlighting the role of phonon interactions over electron effects.

## Key findings

- The transverse-optic phonon softens to near zero at T_C=75 K.
- The polar mode energy increases as temperature decreases below T_C.
- The transition is a nearly ideal continuous phase transition.

## Abstract

We report that the lowest energy transverse-optic phonon in metallic SnTe softens to near zero energy at the structural transition at $T_C=75 \text{~K}$ and importantly show that the energy of this mode below $T_C$ increases as the temperature decreases. Since the mode is a polar displacement this proves unambiguously that SnTe undergoes a ferroelectric displacement below $T_C$. Concentration gradients and imperfect stoichiometry in large crystals may explain why this was not seen in previous inelastic neutron scattering studies. Despite SnTe being metallic we find that the ferroelectric transition is similar to that in ferroelectric insulators, unmodified by the presence of conduction electrons: we find that (i) the damping of the polar mode is dominated by coupling to acoustic phonons rather than electron-phonon coupling (ii) the transition is almost an ideal continuous transition (iii) comparison with density functional calculations identifies the importance of dipolar-dipolar screening for understanding this behaviour.