Polar Dynamics at the Jahn-Teller Transition in Ferroelectric GaV₄S₈.

We present a dielectric spectroscopy study of the polar dynamics linked to the orbitally driven ferroelectric transition in the Skyrmion host GaV(4)S(8). By combining THz and MHz-GHz spectroscopy techniques, we succeed in detecting the relaxational dynamics arising from coupled orbital and polar fluctuations in this material and trace its temperature dependence in the paraelectric as well as in the ferroelectric phase. The relaxation time significantly increases when approaching the critical temperature from both sides of the transition. It is natural to assume that these polar fluctuations map the orbital dynamics at the Jahn-Teller transition. Because of the first-order character of the orbital-ordering transition, the relaxation time shows an enormous jump of about 5 orders of magnitude at the polar and structural phase transition.