Abstract
Using first-principles-based simulations merging an effective Hamiltonian scheme with scaling, symmetry, and topological arguments, we find that an overlooked Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless () phase sustained by quasicontinuous symmetry emerges between the ferroelectric phase and the paraelectric one of ultrathin film, being under tensile strain. Not only do these results provide an extension of physics to the field of ferroelectrics, but they also unveil their nontrivial critical behavior in low dimensions.
- Received 27 January 2017
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.117601
© 2017 American Physical Society