Ferroelectric order versus metallicity in Sr$_{1-x}$Ca$_x$TiO$_{3-delta}$ ($x=0.009$)

We report on a thermal-expansion study of the ferroelectric phase transition in insulating Sr$_{1-x}$Ca$_x$TiO$_3$ ($x=0.009$) and its evolution upon increasing charge-carrier concentration up to $nsimeq 60 times 10^{19}$cm$^{-3}$. Although electric polarization is screened by mobile charge carriers, we find clear signatures of the ferroelectric phase transition in the thermal-expansion coefficient $alpha$ of the weakly doped metallic samples. Upon increasing $n$, the transition temperature $T_mathrm{C}(n)$ and the magnitude of the anomalies in $alpha$ rapidly decrease up to a threshold carrier density $n^star$ above which broadened anomalies remain present. There is no indication for a sign change of $alpha$ as is expected for a pressure-dependent quantum phase transition with $n$ as the control parameter. Thus, the ferroelectriclike transition is either continuously fading away or it transforms to another low-temperature phase above $n^star$, but this change hardly affects the temperature-dependent $alpha(T)$ data.