Pressure effects in metallic ferroelectrics

Ferroelectric materials are usually insulating. Recently a ferroelectric-like structural distortion was found in a metal LiOsO3 , which has attracted enormous investigations in theory and experiment . In this project, we study how external pressure may influence the ferroelectric-like structural transition in LiOsO3 and compare the effects to its insulating counterpart LiNbO3. Our goal is to reveal differences and similarities of pressure effects on structural distortions in conventional (insulating) and unconventional (metallic) ferroelectrics and to establish a complete phase diagram.