Quantum-Geometric Origin of Out-of-plane Stacking Ferroelectricity

Abstract: Stacking ferroelectricity (SFE) has been discovered in a wide range of van der Waals materials and holds promise for applications, including photovoltaics and high-density memory devices. We show that the microscopic origin of out-of-plane stacking ferroelectric polarization can be generally understood as a consequence of nontrivial Berry phase borne out of an effective Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model description with broken sublattice symmetry, thus elucidating the quantum-geometric origin of polarization in the extremely non-periodic bilayer limit. Our theory applies to known stacking ferroelectrics such as bilayer transition-metal dichalcogenides in 3R and T$_{\rm d}$ phases, as well as general AB-stacked honeycomb bilayers with staggered sublattice potential. Our explanatory and self-consistent framework based on the quantum-geometric perspective establishes quantitative understanding of out-of-plane SFE materials beyond symmetry principles.