Emergent Polar Metal Phase in a Van der Waals Mott Magnet

Emergent Polar Metal Phase in a Van der Waals Mott Magnet | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Emergent Polar Metal Phase in a Van der Waals Mott Magnet Shiyu Deng, Matthew Coak, Charles R. S. Haines, Hayrullo Hamidov, and 15 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8875722/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract We report the emergence of a two-dimensional (2D) polar metal phase in van der Waals compound FePSe3 under moderate pressures. This layered material is a Mott insulator with antiferromagnetic order under ambient conditions. We show that FePSe3 uniquely allows tuning a 2D correlated insulator into an exotic metal state where a loss of inversion symmetry leads to periodic polar displacements of ions, within a conducting phase - a polar metal. Our combined synchrotron and neutron diffraction data allow us to present a long-sought, unambiguous high-pressure structural model and show the polar displacements of this new phase. We also observe the suppression of mag- netic ordering at the insulator-to-metal transition correspondent with this structural change. Our work outlines a comprehensive temperature-pressure phase diagram of FePSe3, combining detailed structural, magnetic and transport data. The high-pressure phase exhibits activated semiconductor behavior at high temperatures, a T2-dependence in its resistivity at lower temperatures - despite the conditions required for a ‘good metal’ Fermi-Liquid description not being met in this case - and a low-temperature resistivity upturn which is suppressed as the system is tuned away from the concomitant transitions. The realisation of a tunable 2D polar metal state in FePSe3 due to the loss of its inversion symmetry combined with pressure-induced metallicity offers a promising new platform to investigate this exotic phase at accessible pressures. Physical sciences/Materials science/Condensed-matter physics/Phase transitions and critical phenomena Physical sciences/Physics/Condensed-matter physics/Magnetic properties and materials Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Supplementary Files FePSe3NatPhysSubmissionSM.pdf Supplemental Material (SM) for the Article Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8875722","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":603285011,"identity":"598118b1-dfc7-4b64-901d-50404e2c5c03","order_by":0,"name":"Shiyu Deng","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAmklEQVRIiWNgGAWjYDCCAyCiQkKGj4HxASlazkjwsDEwG5CghbGNgQQtfMd7D7/8Oc8CpIXtA1FaJM+cS7Pm3QZ2GPMMorQY3MgxM2YEa+E/TJzDDO6/MTP8OQdiC5FabvAYP+BtIEWL5JkcM2aeY0AtzMRq4Tt+xvjjj5o6OX72ZiK1AAGbBJgiXgNQLXHRMQpGwSgYBSMXAADbkSNHEeUnvQAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","orcid":"","institution":"Institut Laue-Langevin","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Shiyu","middleName":"","lastName":"Deng","suffix":""},{"id":603285012,"identity":"275f29b1-8e12-434e-9709-c1e260b7ab2c","order_by":1,"name":"Matthew Coak","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1015-8683","institution":"Seoul National University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Matthew","middleName":"","lastName":"Coak","suffix":""},{"id":603285013,"identity":"c252e4fe-da21-4881-a57d-2aa482446bd2","order_by":2,"name":"Charles R. 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Portfolio","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":false,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"ejp","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false},"keywords":"","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8875722/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8875722/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"We report the emergence of a two-dimensional (2D) polar metal phase in van der Waals compound\r\nFePSe3 under moderate pressures. This layered material is a Mott insulator with antiferromagnetic\r\norder under ambient conditions. We show that FePSe3 uniquely allows tuning a 2D correlated\r\ninsulator into an exotic metal state where a loss of inversion symmetry leads to periodic polar\r\ndisplacements of ions, within a conducting phase - a polar metal. Our combined synchrotron and\r\nneutron diffraction data allow us to present a long-sought, unambiguous high-pressure structural\r\nmodel and show the polar displacements of this new phase. We also observe the suppression of mag-\r\nnetic ordering at the insulator-to-metal transition correspondent with this structural change. Our\r\nwork outlines a comprehensive temperature-pressure phase diagram of FePSe3, combining detailed\r\nstructural, magnetic and transport data. The high-pressure phase exhibits activated semiconductor\r\nbehavior at high temperatures, a T2-dependence in its resistivity at lower temperatures - despite\r\nthe conditions required for a ‘good metal’ Fermi-Liquid description not being met in this case -\r\nand a low-temperature resistivity upturn which is suppressed as the system is tuned away from the\r\nconcomitant transitions. The realisation of a tunable 2D polar metal state in FePSe3 due to the\r\nloss of its inversion symmetry combined with pressure-induced metallicity offers a promising new\r\nplatform to investigate this exotic phase at accessible pressures.","manuscriptTitle":"Emergent Polar Metal Phase in a Van der Waals Mott Magnet","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2026-03-17 10:43:29","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8875722/v1","editorialEvents":[],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"nature-communications","isNatureJournal":true,"hasQc":false,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"NCOMMS","sideBox":"Learn more about [Nature Communications](http://www.nature.com/ncomms/)","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"https://mts-ncomms.nature.com/","title":"Nature Communications","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"ejp","reportingPortfolio":"Nature Communications","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"0db3244a-6e2f-4af8-a4a3-826f7ed5f604","owner":[],"postedDate":"March 17th, 2026","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"under-review","subjectAreas":[{"id":64195256,"name":"Physical sciences/Materials science/Condensed-matter physics/Phase transitions and critical phenomena"},{"id":64195257,"name":"Physical sciences/Physics/Condensed-matter physics/Magnetic properties and materials"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-03-17T10:43:30+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2026-03-17 10:43:29","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-8875722","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-8875722","identity":"rs-8875722","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"XKTyCvWXoU3ODBz1xrDgd","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}