Electrical Detection of Ferroelectric-like Metals through Nonlinear Hall Effect

Abstract

Ferroelectric-like metals are a relatively rare class of materials that have ferroelectric-like distortion and metallic conductivity. LiOsO$_3$ is the first demonstrated and the most investigated ferroelectric-like metal. The presence of free carriers makes them difficult to be studied by traditional ferroelectric techniques. In this paper, using the symmetry analysis and first-principles calculations, we demonstrate that the ferroelectric-like transition of LiOsO$_3$ can be probed by a kind of electrical transport method based on nonlinear Hall effect. The Berry curvature dipole exists in the ferroelectric-like phase, and it can lead to a measurable nonlinear Hall conductance with a conventional experimental setup. However, the symmetry of the paraelectric-like phase LiOsO$_3$ vanishes the Berry curvature dipole. The Berry curvature dipole shows a strong dependence on the polar displacement, which might be helpful for the detection of polar order. The nonlinear Hall effect provides an effective method for the detection of phase transition in the study of the ferroelectric-like metals and promotes them to be applied in the ferroelectric-like electronic devices.