Predictive Control of Lattice Viscosity by Electric Fields in Displacive Ferroelectrics

Predictive Control of Lattice Viscosity by Electric Fields in Displacive Ferroelectrics | 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 Predictive Control of Lattice Viscosity by Electric Fields in Displacive Ferroelectrics Syed Moid This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8503848/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Lattice viscosity quantifies the irreversible relaxation of momentum and stress mediated by phonon dynamics and provides a sensitive probe of anharmonicity and dissipation in crystalline solids. In ferroelectric and quantum-paraelectric materials, soft polar phonon modes dominate this response and are strongly coupled to external electric fields. Here we develop a microscopic theory of electric-field-dependent lattice viscosity based on linear response and phonon Green’s functions, explicitly incorporating anharmonic phonon–phonon interactions and nonlinear polarization effects. We show that, at temperatures above the ferroelectric transition, electric fields generically induce quadratic renormalization of phonon linewidths and frequencies , leading to a universal field dependence of the lattice viscosity governed by a small set of effective coefficients. We validate these predictions using first-principles density functional perturbation theory (DFPT) calculations implemented in Quantum ESPRESSO for representative systems, including the quantum paraelectric SrTiO₃ and the displacive ferroelectric BaTiO₃. The computed phonon dispersions, anharmonic linewidths, and inelastic scattering cross sections confirm the predicted quadratic field scaling, demonstrate strong mode selectivity associated with soft polar modes, and establish the microscopic origin of the dominant viscosity contributions. Based on these results, we establish a predictive model for the lattice viscosity Λ(E,T) that maps first-principles phonon properties directly to the electric-field and temperature dependence of lattice viscosity. Our findings reveal electric field as an effective and reversible control parameter for lattice dissipation, providing a predictive framework for electric-field control of dissipation in functional and quantum materials. We discuss implications for ferroelectric quantum criticality, phonon-mediated superconductivity, and field-tunable dissipation in oxide heterostructures and quantum devices, positioning lattice viscosity as a controllable transport property in quantum and functional materials. Physical sciences/Materials science Physical sciences/Physics Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted 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. 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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-8503848","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":570465538,"identity":"814e9a17-75fb-4e98-bf5d-48d7536b4af1","order_by":0,"name":"Syed 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Ferroelectrics","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8503848/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8503848/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eLattice viscosity quantifies the irreversible relaxation of momentum and stress mediated by phonon dynamics and provides a sensitive probe of anharmonicity and dissipation in crystalline solids. In ferroelectric and quantum-paraelectric materials, soft polar phonon modes dominate this response and are strongly coupled to external electric fields. Here we develop a microscopic theory of \u003cb\u003eelectric-field-dependent lattice viscosity\u003c/b\u003e based on linear response and phonon Green\u0026rsquo;s functions, explicitly incorporating anharmonic phonon\u0026ndash;phonon interactions and nonlinear polarization effects. We show that, at temperatures above the ferroelectric transition, electric fields generically induce \u003cb\u003equadratic renormalization of phonon linewidths and frequencies\u003c/b\u003e, leading to a universal field dependence of the lattice viscosity governed by a small set of effective coefficients.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eWe validate these predictions using \u003cb\u003efirst-principles density functional perturbation theory (DFPT)\u003c/b\u003e calculations implemented in Quantum ESPRESSO for representative systems, including the quantum paraelectric SrTiO₃ and the displacive ferroelectric BaTiO₃. The computed phonon dispersions, anharmonic linewidths, and inelastic scattering cross sections confirm the predicted quadratic field scaling, demonstrate strong mode selectivity associated with soft polar modes, and establish the microscopic origin of the dominant viscosity contributions.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eBased on these results, we establish a \u003cb\u003epredictive model for the lattice viscosity Λ(E,T)\u003c/b\u003e that maps first-principles phonon properties directly to the electric-field and temperature dependence of lattice viscosity.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eOur findings reveal electric field as an effective and reversible control parameter for lattice dissipation, providing a predictive framework for electric-field control of dissipation in functional and quantum materials. We discuss implications for ferroelectric quantum criticality, phonon-mediated superconductivity, and field-tunable dissipation in oxide heterostructures and quantum devices, positioning lattice viscosity as a controllable transport property in quantum and functional materials.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Predictive Control of Lattice Viscosity by Electric Fields in Displacive Ferroelectrics","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2026-01-07 02:27:41","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8503848/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"69280429-8e3b-40d2-9022-f0aedc82b18f","owner":[],"postedDate":"January 7th, 2026","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[{"id":60703339,"name":"Physical sciences/Materials science"},{"id":60703340,"name":"Physical sciences/Physics"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-01-24T02:08:53+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2026-01-07 02:27:41","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-8503848","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-8503848","identity":"rs-8503848","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"XKTyCvWXoU3ODBz1xrDgd","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}