Dispersive-phonon-driven room-temperature Ni1+-Ni2+ polaron hopping in spin-charge coupled rutile niobate

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Understanding how lattice dynamics mediate polaron hopping is essential for designing multifunctional correlated oxides. Here, we demonstrate room-temperature dispersive phonon excitations and elucidate the Ni1+-Ni2+ polaron-hopping mechanism and the presence of rare spin-charge-phonon coupling even in a magnetically short-range-ordered state in rutile niobate, a rare room-temperature magnetodielectric system. We reveal room-temperature dispersive phonon excitations using inelastic neutron scattering (INS), complemented by machine-learning-based phonon calculations, to establish the microscopic origin of the polaron-hopping mechanism. Experimental evidence of dispersive phonon-driven polaron hopping is scarce. INS measurements show significant dispersive phonon excitations at 21, 33, and 47 meV, implying collective lattice dynamics that enable delocalized polaron propagation via coupled charge-spin-phonon interactions. Dispersive phonons couple to charge carriers and promote correlated NiO6 lattice distortions, facilitating delocalized polaron hopping. Low-energy magnetic excitations at 4 and 8 meV indicate the presence of local short-range magnetic correlations or spin-orbit-coupling-induced anisotropy in deformed NiO6 octahedra, which are thoroughly discussed. Machine-learning phonon calculations replicate the experimentally observed phonon excitations and demonstrate lattice instability, which is compatible with dynamic local distortions caused by polaron production. These findings provide microscopic evidence for a coupled charge-spin-phonon mechanism that mediates polaron hopping in rutile oxide systems.

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