Fate of a soliton matter upon symmetry-breaking ferroelectric order

TL;DR

This study investigates how soliton excitations in a quasi-1D organic ferroelectric transition into a 3D ordered state, revealing pairing mechanisms that form polarons and enable magnetic and electrical properties.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed experimental insight into the transformation of soliton matter into a 3D ferroelectric order in a quasi-1D system.

Findings

Soliton matter undergoes neutral spin-spin and spin-charge pairing.

Pairing leads to the formation of polarons that carry charge and contribute to magnetism.

Soliton condensation into 3D order is demonstrated through resistivity, NMR, and NQR measurements.

Abstract

In a one-dimensional (1D) system with degenerate ground states, their domain boundaries, dubbed solitons, emerge as topological excitations often carrying unconventional charges and spins; however, the soliton excitations are only vital in the non-ordered 1D regime. Then a question arises; how do the solitons conform to a 3D ordered state? Here, using a quasi-1D organic ferroelectric, TTF-CA, with degenerate polar dimers, we pursue the fate of a spin-soliton charge-soliton composite matter in a 1D polar-dimer liquid upon its transition to a 3D ferroelectric order by resistivity, NMR and NQR measurements. We demonstrate that the soliton matter undergoes neutral spin-spin soliton pairing and spin-charge soliton pairing to form polarons, coping with the 3D order. The former contributes to the magnetism through triplet excitations whereas the latter carries electrical current. Our results reveal the whole picture of a soliton matter that condenses into the 3D ordered state.