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ICMAB Research

Electron–phonon coupling and symmetry breaking in superconducting oxide interfaces near ferroelectric quantum criticality
24 July 2026

A new paper has been published in Nature Materials:

The origin of superconductivity in oxide interfaces and its relation to ferroelectricity remains an open question. At LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interfaces, quantum confinement and inversion symmetry breaking create a two-dimensional electron gas near a ferroelectric quantum critical point, yet direct evidence linking phonon dynamics to electron pairing has been lacking. Here we directly probe lattice vibrations and atomic structure at LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interfaces across the superconducting phase diagram using vibrational spectroscopy with momentum selectivity in a scanning transmission electron microscope. We find that superconductivity across the doping series correlates with inversion symmetry breaking and the appearance of high-frequency localized phonons. These tunable, polar vibrations—confined near the interface—exhibit strong electron–phonon coupling and evolve systematically with carrier density. Our findings establish a link between lattice instability, superconductivity and strong electron–phonon coupling mediated by tunable localized phonons, providing new insights into possible microscopic pairing pathways in quantum paraelectric systems.

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Electron–phonon coupling and symmetry breaking in superconducting oxide interfaces near ferroelectric quantum criticality


Guzman, Roger; Pruneda, Miguel; Nery, Jean Paul; Xu, Mingquan; Li, Aowen; Wittemeier, Nils; Li, Ang; Singh, Gyanendra; Bergeal, Nicolas; Kalaboukhov, Alexei; Herranz, Gervasi; Gazquez, Jaume; Zhou, Wu

Nat. Mater. (2026)
DOI: 10.1038/s41563-026-02647-x